Now that I'm back in a country that doesn't suck at things that are plugged into the wall, I finally managed to download Jamie Lidell's newest album. Jim is marketed as the product of one of Lidell's alternate personalities, who is sort of the conniving devil in the back of his brain, making him do craaaaazy things. Whatever. Anyway, the album itself is good, and fun, and pretty perfect for summer; just don't turn to it when you're looking for the perfect lyrics to write on your livejournal. Of course, the production is so good that you can't really care about the lyrical quality.
Jamie Lidell always gets accredited mostly for his voice, a Marvin Gaye/Otis Redding croon that you don't expect out of a guy from the middle of the UK; not to mention that it's his voice--run through a computer--that serves as the primary instrument for Lidell's live shows. He's got a great amount of control and breadth with his vocals, it's one of those voices that could read the phone book and make you want more and he knows it. And usually it's felt like Lidell is the only person in the recording studio; Multiply has a soulful yet electronic feeling where the music revolves around and is led by Lidell's voice. But with Jim, the music has a broader sound, backing vocals, bass, percussion; everything seems legitimate and real, like it was cut in a studio by a real person in the 1970s and not by a few guys with computers. It's this bigger sound that is the strongest part of Jim and makes it so damn catchy. There's such a sweet nostalgic feel to songs like "Wait for Me"and "Where'd You Go" that you don't think that you're listening to an album from 2008. Of course, the computer isn't gone forever, as it shows up to good effect in "Hurricane" and "Figured Me Out". All of the music blends with Lidell's vocals instead of just being a backing track.
But, as I said before, the only real weakness is Lidell's writing. I've seen him say in interviews that this album was going to be about the lyrics, but that just doesn't seem believable when you listen to them, I mean, really listen to them. On more upbeat songs this is never a problem, and Lidell does have a good ear for the words that fit with the lyrics. But some of them are just silly; "Out of My System" talks about exercising while "Wait For Me" declares " Don't you know you can't believe all that you've heard/I know it's rough when all you have is my word" and " Without you by my side I just can't sleep/That's why I'm up all night counting sheep". And yeah, this seems a little immature compared to the skill of the vocals and production, but it's those latter two elements of the song that make the lyrics irrelevant. But this really suffers in the slower numbers where we're forced to listen to what he's saying. "Rope of Sand" is a desperate attempt at existentialism which is too simple for its own complexity; and as an aside I don't think that Jamie Lidell has to constantly repeat how he just doesn't understand anything. "All I Wanna Do" is equally meh, "It's a world full of magic/It is never ever tragic". Not that it's bad per se, but I'm pretty sure that I wrote that when I was in high school and thought I was pretty deep. And I just don't understand "Another Day". I think that it's about a guy who was always afraid that he and his lady wouldn't have anything else to say to each other, but now they don't but it's okay because silence is now what can do the talking for them? I love you even though I have nothing to say to you?
All in all I like the album a lot; Jamie Lidell is one of those artists who seems to be full of an earnest sense of life that says that he's enjoying his work, not just doing it to fulfill a record contract or because he thinks he has some sort of artistic obligation. Jim doesn't resound with any "greatest album of a lifetime of work", but it sure as hell isn't a bad patch.
Jamie Lidell always gets accredited mostly for his voice, a Marvin Gaye/Otis Redding croon that you don't expect out of a guy from the middle of the UK; not to mention that it's his voice--run through a computer--that serves as the primary instrument for Lidell's live shows. He's got a great amount of control and breadth with his vocals, it's one of those voices that could read the phone book and make you want more and he knows it. And usually it's felt like Lidell is the only person in the recording studio; Multiply has a soulful yet electronic feeling where the music revolves around and is led by Lidell's voice. But with Jim, the music has a broader sound, backing vocals, bass, percussion; everything seems legitimate and real, like it was cut in a studio by a real person in the 1970s and not by a few guys with computers. It's this bigger sound that is the strongest part of Jim and makes it so damn catchy. There's such a sweet nostalgic feel to songs like "Wait for Me"and "Where'd You Go" that you don't think that you're listening to an album from 2008. Of course, the computer isn't gone forever, as it shows up to good effect in "Hurricane" and "Figured Me Out". All of the music blends with Lidell's vocals instead of just being a backing track.
But, as I said before, the only real weakness is Lidell's writing. I've seen him say in interviews that this album was going to be about the lyrics, but that just doesn't seem believable when you listen to them, I mean, really listen to them. On more upbeat songs this is never a problem, and Lidell does have a good ear for the words that fit with the lyrics. But some of them are just silly; "Out of My System" talks about exercising while "Wait For Me" declares " Don't you know you can't believe all that you've heard/I know it's rough when all you have is my word" and " Without you by my side I just can't sleep/That's why I'm up all night counting sheep". And yeah, this seems a little immature compared to the skill of the vocals and production, but it's those latter two elements of the song that make the lyrics irrelevant. But this really suffers in the slower numbers where we're forced to listen to what he's saying. "Rope of Sand" is a desperate attempt at existentialism which is too simple for its own complexity; and as an aside I don't think that Jamie Lidell has to constantly repeat how he just doesn't understand anything. "All I Wanna Do" is equally meh, "It's a world full of magic/It is never ever tragic". Not that it's bad per se, but I'm pretty sure that I wrote that when I was in high school and thought I was pretty deep. And I just don't understand "Another Day". I think that it's about a guy who was always afraid that he and his lady wouldn't have anything else to say to each other, but now they don't but it's okay because silence is now what can do the talking for them? I love you even though I have nothing to say to you?
All in all I like the album a lot; Jamie Lidell is one of those artists who seems to be full of an earnest sense of life that says that he's enjoying his work, not just doing it to fulfill a record contract or because he thinks he has some sort of artistic obligation. Jim doesn't resound with any "greatest album of a lifetime of work", but it sure as hell isn't a bad patch.
No comments:
Post a Comment