Charles James & The Rise - release 'Promises' ahead of debut album
Third glimpse of the band’s debut album Crossing the Bar (September 12th 2025) finds the Donegal cinematic‑folk collective wrestling with the beauty and finality of broken bonds.
The release coincides with the launch of album pre-orders, available from July 14th via www.charlesjamesandtherise.com
Donegal’s spell‑weaving folk ensemble Charles James & The Rise return on July 10th 2025 with ‘Promises’, the third single taken from their forthcoming debut album ‘Crossing the Bar’, due September 12th. A sweeping meditation on the fragile pacts we make and the bittersweet freedom that follows letting them go, ‘Promises’ pairs the band’s hallmark choral textures with widescreen strings and ghost‑lit pedal steel. The release coincides with the launch of album pre-orders on vinyl, available from July 14th via the bands website, www.charlesjamesandtherise.com and will be celebrated with a headline performance release night (July 10th) at Whelan’s in Dublin.
“‘Promises’ is a song that’s lived with me for a long time,” says front‑man Charles James. “It runs in a similar vein to ‘Sailor’ and came from the same writing period. At its core it’s about accepting that when a relationship—of any kind—is damaged, it’s changed forever, no matter how much time tries to mend it.”
Recorded at Attica Audio in Termon and produced by Orri McBrearty (Dark Tropics, Rosie Carney), ‘Promises’ unfurls with hushed finger‑picking before blooming into a cinematic crescendo of bowed guitars, distant choir and hammered dulcimer. The result is both intimate and widescreen: a late‑night confessional that steadily lifts toward dawn.
“Promises” arrives hot on the heels of “Wide Awake” and “Greatest Prize,” songs that propelled the band to national airplay and earned plaudits from Rolling Stone España (“20 Artists You Should Know”) and Hot Press (Track of the Day). The release is the latest preview of ‘Crossing The Bar’, the band’s long‑awaited debut album landing September 12th 2025 — a collection that threads modern folk storytelling through shadow‑strewn orchestration.
This summer the group will road‑test new material at headline shows in Whelan’s (Dublin, July 10) and Bennigans (Derry, July 3) before joining Without Willow in Galway’s Róisín Dubh this September and headline home shows in Clubeo, Leo’s Tavern and McGrorys, Donegal.
TOUR DATES
3rd July – Bennigans, Derry (Headline)
10th July – Whelan’s, Dublin (Headline)
13th Sept – Róisín Dubh, Galway (w/ Without Willow)
19th Sept - Clubeo, Leo’s Tavern, Donegal
24th Oct - McGrory’s, Culdaff, Donegal
(Further dates to be announced along with a September in-store tour)
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