James Fenwicke, former multi-instrumentalist for The Mumlers, is coming home for the holidays—and he is bringing the gift of new music with him.
Fenwicke—or JF, as he prefers to be called—is returning to his native San Jose from New Orleans, where he recently moved to pursue a degree in the field of audiology at Louisiana State University.

In the wake of The Mumlers’ disbandment, JF started his own project, which he dubbed Plantain. It is an appropriate moniker. Similar to the island climes where his band’s namesake grows, JF’s tunes are plodding and breezy, like a day at the beach—a super bummed-out beach, that is.

His debut LP, released in 2012, is titled Fall of a Candy Empire, and it sounds at times very much like the soundtrack to a gloomy day spent at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. Album opener, “Pale Shade Of Blue,” mixes sad horns, a seasick and churning organ, and washes of reverberant guitar strokes into a melancholic base for a tale about a relationship that just isn’t working out.

“So, let’s pick our battles and not pick our wounds,” he sings in his yearning, reedy voice. It’s easy to imagine the scene: a pair of disenchanted lovers, sitting on a cold bench, the biting ocean breeze weaving in and out of the words as a rickety merry-go-round whirls.

One can hear that JF was taking notes during his time with the Mumlers. That band’s frontman, Will Sprott, was—and remains today, as a solo artist—a master of spinning tales of woeful resignation over wind-and-brass-accented indie rock.

JF was in the group from its formation, around 2005, until its dissolution around 2011, and he will be the first to admit that Sprott and The Mumlers have had a lasting impact on his music.

“Being in that band inspired the way I write songs,” he says. “I’ve always liked Will’s songwriting.”

The Plantain frontman and songwriter also credits the time he spent in The Mumlers for sharpening his abilities as an arranger—a skill that can be heard quite clearly on Candy Empire, as various wind and brass instruments weave in and out of the compositions effortlessly.

But JF and the music of Plantain is much more than a continuation of The Mumlers. For starters, the time JF has spent in New Orleans has rubbed off on him.

“It’s great to be in that city,” he says. “There are just so many interesting places to go. There is a whole lot going on, both musically and culturally.” In particular, he’s been inspired by the city’s rich history of brass music.

“It’s opened my eyes to what it would sound like if you had a really big brass band,” JF says, referring to the large brass ensembles he’s encountered walking around the French Quarter. “And if everybody is just playing super loud.”

When he and the rest of Plantain take the stage at The Caravan on Dec. 23, they’ll be playing music from their forthcoming album, which JF says is basically finished—“I’m just waiting on mastering and pressing.” The new record will be more boisterous than anything Plantain has done in the past, he says.
“This one, I think, sounds more rocking,” JF says. “I enjoy listening to this album. I think it’s a fun album. It’s more leisurely.”

However, JF is hesitant to say there is a direct line to be traced between his move to New Orleans and his new record’s energy level. After all, much of the material was written before he left for The South. And besides, he says, “I grew up [in San Jose]. There are lots of memories.”

Fenwicke’s band will be joined at The Caravan by another Big Easy band, Hawn, as well as San Jose doom folk duo, Oddly Even.

Plantain plays on Dec 23, 10pm, Free at The Caravan Lounge, San Jose.

It’s been almost a year since James Fenwicke and the rest of the original Mumlers lineup parted ways with singer-songwriter Will Sprott. So far, life after the Mumlers hasn’t been a bad thing for Fenwicke. It’s meant that Plantain, a side project of his since 2008, now gets his full attention.

“It’s freed up quite a bit of time. So much energy was going into the Mumlers for a while,” Fenwicke says.

Already Plantain has finished recording and mixing their debut album, Fall of a Candy Empire, something that had been on hold for years because Fenwicke’s time was so full juggling work and the Mumlers’ busy schedule.

Plantain’s album is all set to release just as soon as they duplicate it on vinyl. They launched a kickstarter campaign to raise money to fund the duplication costs and have almost reached their goal. Now there’s even talk of a Plantain tour this summer.

“I think people don’t take bands seriously till you have a recording,” Fenwicke says.

People only familiar with Fenwicke through the Mumlers might be surprised at what a departure Fall of a Candy Empire is from that band’s sound. That’s because Sprott and Fenwicke are two totally different kinds of songwriters.

“Will’s songwriting tends to draw off of more traditional blues and less from free-form experimental indie rock or experimental bands,” Fenwicke says.

Sprott’s interest in early American music is obvious in his songs, though he mixes up his influences in a totally unique, creative way. Fenwicke, on the other hand is all over the map with a much hazier combination of influences. There are elements of 60s psychedelic pop (like Zombies and Beatles), weird drug-addled rock and roll (Lou Reed), lazy ’90s DIY indie rock (Pavement), ’70s power pop (Alex Chilton) and bits of early Americana and country tossed in the mix. It’s a big blend of anything-goes rock and roll.