Here at HIP Video Promo, we strive on today’s up and coming artists. However, it is not every day that we come across an artist whom we are proud to call a composer. The fresh style and altruistic demeanor of James Wilson not only captivates, but he reels his listeners into a dark, yet sweet and sultry cave of emotions that he likes to call Frightened Cellar.

With two suitcases and a dream, James Wilson moved to Brooklyn in 2004 to pursue his life-long desire of piano thrashing. For several years, he struggled beneath the rubble of the underground music scene. After a deal with a record label went down the drain, he heard a bizarre calling and packed his few belongings to head towards Japan. There, he studied traditional Japanese culture and music. While in Japan, he formed a band with a shinobue player named Kazunari Abe. Their musical group called Sora Ocean recorded one album and toured the country. They were a huge success and gained many followers.

James Wilson is a free spirit, and as Frightened Celler his lyrics and sounds captivate the strongest set of emotions from within. In September of 2011, he received an award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers recognizing his contributions to American Popular Music. Also in 2011 he was named one of the top one hundred songwriters in New York City by The Deli Magazine. His most recent completed work is his debut solo album called Destroy the Fear That Forms You. The project has been funded by his many fans and was mixed by Marcel Van Limbeek. Throughout the album, you can hear the infinite talents that possess James Wilson and you will not be let down by the easy-going nature of his soul.

His video for “Rather Be Here” exemplifies a character that is stuck in the past. Like every day people, Frightened Cellar provides relief and reasons for the strange ways in which we live. The character finds himself chasing his past through a dark and dingy cellar of a bar near where he lives. He comes across a letter, which he is surprised to find is from himself from the past. The epiphany that occurs within the video is strong, and you find yourself wanting to conjure up all of your greatest friends and relatives of your past. But that is not the message that James Wilson presents us with; he’d rather have us be content with our pasts and ready to move forward. The dark cellar is a metaphor for what we should leave behind, and Frightened Cellar does so in his video for “Rather Be Here.”

The style of Frightened Cellar can be described as something that exists between David Bowie and dark theater music. Frightened Cellar moves his listeners through every piano’s notes and gives us a reason to keep searching for meanings about life and the wonders that we experience every day.