Jnr. Williams' Acoustic Version Of A PRAYER Premieres On Flood Magazine

Emerging U.K.-based artist Jnr. Williams' acoustic version of "A Prayer" premieres today on FLOOD Magazine, who proclaims, "With nothing but piano for accompaniment, the recording strips the song to its bare bones, leaving Williams' confident, quivering voice in the foreground." Watch/share the video here: https://bit.ly/2XuqxbG

Of the acoustic track, Williams says, "'A prayer' was first written at like 12AM on an old little keyboard, it didn't really matter as I knew what I wanted to say before I even began to find the chords, it was raw but there was something in it. I guess I wanted to show you the bare bones of 'A Prayer' and how it first came into this world. This is 'A Prayer' in its most stripped back form."

Williams' debut EP, Where We Start, is due March 8 via Arista/Insanity Records. The new music has already begun to receive praise with Wonderland Magazine calling "A Prayer" "emotional" and furthering that the song's visuals are "powerful."

Williams was born and raised in East London and comes from an artistically creative family where his siblings were painters, graphic and fashion designers alike. It was R&B that first caught his ear but through his grandmother he found jazz, which began to intrigue him further. Williams studied music at the British Academy of New Music while working at a cinema to pay the bills. Not long after leaving formal education his artistry began to develop as a recording artist and songwriter. "I'm a quiet person and introverted so my music is very exposed. For me, the environment I was in growing up and being a black man where we're told not to express emotion was tough. The songs I write expose that and they don't shy away from that expression," he says.

Williams' love for simplicity is why he prefers his voice and songwriting to do the work. "I love voices and how a tone can tell a story," he notes. Contemporary artists such as James Blake, Moses Sumney and The Weeknd have also allowed Williams to open up his imagination and shape his sound, combining his early jazz influences with a contemporary feel. Last year, his cover of Dinah Washington's "What A Difference A Day Makes" was discovered on Soundcloud and played on BBC Radio 1's "Future Sounds with Annie Mac."

photo credit: Blue Laybourne

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