The seventh of eight children, you could say JMR discovered his musical muses undercover.

“Jeff Buckley’s Grace was probably the first album I was allowed to listen to. I related to it so much as a teen, and I came onto it when I accidentally picked it up at a local Spec’s that’s now a Petco.”

Outside of Buckley, the sounds of gospel (a preference of his dad) filtered through the colorful and packed house. As a child, he began tinkering with an upright piano before saving up enough lawn mowing money to buy a MacBook Pro and begin recording at 14 years old. A fellow Lakeland, FL native, Aaron Marsh of Copeland, heard him play at a local coffee shop and began encouraging his talent. A musical world opened up to him as Aaron’s array of instruments and studio showed JMR that making music was not limited by the few instruments you see bands use in church. You could create your own sounds.

Just before heading to college, the then 17-year-old faced tragedy for the first time.

“My mother died from cancer,” he sighs. “This placed a lot of doubt in me, but in a way music consoled me and helped me believe in myself in a way in which she did. My life could fall apart, but I still had that gift left. That couldn’t be taken away though it seemed everything else was. I’ve written about it a lot.”

So, JMR picked up and moved to Nashville for freshman year, however another upset called him back home within a year’s time. “It was the familiarity of the small town I grew up in that brought me back for a little while,” he says. “I needed more time to heal, and I wasn’t ready to venture into a new city and start a new life. I still needed the bits of my old life to move on. It was a lot to take in and a weird time, for sure. I felt really lost. I spent a few dark years in Lakeland.”

During that time, he began uploading music and started getting some attention. Labels began to reach out and he developed a following, managing to independently land syncs on MTV’s Awkward, ABC’s Rookie Blue, and more. With some renewed confidence and his home life settling, JMR relocated back to Nashville where he continued writing at a feverish place. By late 2015, he had inked a deal with Republic Records and commenced work on his debut EP.

The collection of songs sees him strike a delicate balance between soulfully chilling acoustic guitars and hypnotic alternative electronic flourishes. Working with producer Malay [John Legend, Frank Ocean, Alessia Cara, Allen Stone], he conjures a ponderous poetic pop prose of his own.

Whether it’s the stirring strings of “Shivers,” the dynamic delivery of “Closer,” or the terse exploration of faith on “Found My Religion,” JMR paints a vibrant picture of losing, loving, and living. “Bad For Good” pays homage to an old friend who “stood out in Lakeland because she was getting into film and fashion. She was comfortable in her own skin and didn’t follow form of the other girls in my small town. I admired her independence. There was a dark magic to her womanhood.”

A chance encounter helped him finish the song. “I was walking on Hollywood Boulevard and overheard a man loudly condemning everyone walking by. I immediately recorded it on my phone and inserted it to the outro. The contrast of this condemnation of the secular and the song’s trance of hedonism and desire was interesting to me.”

Now, JMR is ready to share his full story. “I want to balance moments of real self-analysis and feel-good songs,” he leaves off. “There are two types of music I like—music that makes me forget about my life and music that speaks directly to my life. There’s a lot more for me to write about. I still feel like I’ve only begun to explore the loss of my mom and the loss of my youth as well as finding the love of my life. It’s those moments of carefree bliss mixed with introspection that I want to share.”