Still living in New York, James used and built upon the music he developed and recorded at Capitol, working to release the album himself. He recorded material from the Capitol album with Los Angeles-based Producer Mikal Blue, turning it into James's self-released EP, The Ballroom Break-In, in 2007. The title of the EP was based on his early days in New York City, when he broke into venues in order to practice playing and writing songs on a piano. After the release of the EP, Tomas Young, a paralyzed Iraq War veteran, heard one of its songs, "Hero's Song," on iTunes. Young picked the song to be on a Soundtrack of a documentary of his life, called Body of War. Music from his EP was also used in television shows, including "The Sun Will Rise" which appeared on the ABC drama Private Practice in 2007. James and Blue quickly followed up The Ballroom Break-in with the full-length album, The Day Is Brave. The album used most of the material from the EP and some of the Capitol songs, but also contained new material James had written. As his EP's exposure grew, including a feature on Perez Hilton, James again gained the interest of major record labels. In 2008 he signed with Decca Records.