James Paul is an innovative maker of eclectic music, winning multiple Junos and regional awards, and has been an experimenter in many media through his career.
In 1986, he entered the interdisciplinary fine arts programme at York University with the goal of studying creative writing for the stage and screen. The programme provided a grounding in art theory and interdisciplinary study seeded his nascent view that all art is a form of storytelling and that media can be as fluid as the artist choses. Meanwhile, James worked with Vincenzo Natali, initially as a sound engineer and then as a video editor, at Natali’s fledgeling video and film company. That career was cut short by the lure of rock ’n’ roll and electronic music and James moved towards performing and recording music instead of theatre and film.
Viewing recording as an extension of composition, James moves between traditional recording techniques and electronic experimentation - the entire studio becoming a musical instrument and compositional tool.
James first founded a studio in 1988. It evolved into The Rogue by 1991. Developing longterm creative relationships with the artists, he moved fluidly from engineering through producer and session musician roles. These efforts have helped bring awards and accolades to his collaborators, earning multiple Juno awards across genre categories and recognition from regional awards across Canada.
The pandemic brought a sharp shift. Temporarily closing the studio to clients and experiencing the creative lapse that many struggled with, James turned to old projects and pursuits that were near forgotten and found a creative path forward merging his musical experience with his love of video art and film photography. Now his photography has shown in local galleries and his video work has been screened at festivals around the world.
