about
James Gales is a keyboardist, songwriter, composer & music producer living in Naarm/Melbourne, Australia. From a virtuosic background in classical & jazz piano, graduating from the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music with Honours, he is now a prolific artist active in the diverse worlds of pop songwriting, experimental music, and scores for screen & stage. He is usually enthusiastic about: video games, cartoons, horror, memory, time, worldbuilding, synthesisers, etc.
Quasi-mentored by Nick Littlemore (Empire of the Sun, PNAU), James co-wrote and co-produced 5 songs on Jessica Mauboy’s album “Yours Forever”, which reached #1 on the Australian Albums chart and was nominated for Best Pop Release at the 2024 ARIA Awards. In 2025, he continued this streak with songwriting & production work for Kita Alexander (Warner Music Australia), including the ARIA-nominated “Holiday” for Tourism Queensland, string arranging for Matthew Ifield (Universal Music Australia), and more.
His experimental music as Jim Nopédie has received attention from KEXP, Triple J, Double J & FBi Radio, as well as a ‘cult’ YouTube following. Jim’s most recent album “Keep It Rolling” was released in 2023 on Aivi Tran’s Infloresce Records, inspired by early 2000s ambient & glitch music, and an attitude of lightness towards the present moment. “Another Childhood” was released in 2021, a concept album about famous videogame urban legends & secrets, in a ‘horror ambient’ style inspired by the music of Silent Hill, Resident Evil, and modern experimental music. Jim’s debut album “Minus Worlds” (2020) explored the stereotypes of environmental music in retro game soundtracks, through a playful lens of disruptive glitches, genre mashups and other trickery.
James has also collaborated extensively with Lou Wall, Jean Tong & other wonderful theatre-makers on multiple award-winning musicals, comedy shows, cabarets & plays over the years; including Lou Wall’s “Facebook Marketplace” sketch, which went globally viral and has received over 80 million views; the stage musical Romeo Is Not The Only Fruit (2017), nominated for 2 Green Room Awards; and Flat Earthers: The Musical (2024), an original 2-hour work which sold out its original run at Sydney’s Griffin & Hayes Theatre and received 4-star reviews from Arts Hub, Time Out, Stage Door & the Sydney Morning Herald.