Generally speaking, R&B music is the commercial hatred of those attempting to associate with the ‘in-crowd’, and is often completely neglected in favour of sounds that represent a more underground culture. Yet it appears as though the genre is being made cool again with the likes of James Blake and Toro Y Moi pioneering new directions in the R&B scene. The combination of more instrumental and electronic elements with the soulful voices of these particular artists creates a completely different vibe against the typical commercialised hip-hop, which overtly contains more pop elements rather than staying true to its soulful roots. One of these artists in amongst the new breed is British composer Jamie Woon. Finishing fourth in the influential BBC Sound of 2011 (significantly, behind Blake who came in second), 27-year old Woon has been plying his trade since he was 15, when he began playing guitar. Growing up in England’s famed BRIT School, where he experienced performances from the likes of Reggie Watts, he began to experiment with loop pedals and syncopated beats in conjunction with his acoustic style. And on 'Mirrorwriting', all these elements are brilliantly executed.
There are some really amazing soundscapes featured on Woon’s debut album, even though on the surface it appears like there is not a whole lot occurring. It is largely in the simplicity of the instrumentation and sparseness of each track where Woon shines. And occasionally, the more minimalistic the sound is, the more engaging it becomes. Lyrically, Woon is not as much technical as he is powerful, owing plenty to his nomination of words in certain sequences that largely aid to the reaction gained from this album. ‘Night Air’ for instance uses intrinsic lyrical conventions throughout, minus choruses, but still manages to provide a great amount of strength due to the soulful vocal effort implemented at critical times during the track. It is that vocal which propels Woon to lofty heights through much of 'Mirrorwriting', combining mostly with backing overdubs to create some really quite magical harmonies.
'Mirrorwriting' is certainly the sum of its parts; the parts become stilted at times while seamlessly coming together at others. The majority of the beats produced are reminiscent of early Massive Attack compositions, deeply entrenched in bass and mostly following a traditional skip-hop flow that enables Woon’s voice to traverse effortlessly over the top. Great examples of this in action are ‘Street’ and ‘Spirits’, the latter of which is possibly the best cut from the album. The slickness in which each track develops is credit to the production team behind the album, and its noticeable in electronic music as each element is brought to the fore with no place to hide. The synths become lush and refuse to overbear the overall sound in stages, while becoming heavier and more influential in more upbeat tracks like ‘Lady Luck’ and ‘Middle’, where the R&B side of this album really crosses over into soul stylings via apt volumes of programmed strings that would work behind almost any commercial release in today’s age, yet are put to considerably better use on 'Mirrorwriting'. It is in finding this mix that Woon distances himself from his competitors by refusing to tow one line of songwriting and creating a sound that seems more natural than others.
The latter half of the album is largely left for lighter compositions and a greater introduction of guitar sounds, which Woon grew up on. ‘Gravity’ is a particularly deep listening experience, built around completely euphoric synth sections and a hint of acoustic melodies implemented perfectly; the guitar is brought forward in the mix when the song becomes more sparse and sent to the back as the chorus allows other instrumentation to heighten the track. ‘Waterfront’ is a lo-fi closing track that is built around a skippy rhythm and finger-plucked acoustics, while ‘Spiral’ fields a real lounge-like atmosphere that is typical of what AIR produced in their early years. It is clear that Woon is well-educated in a musical sense, allowing him to enhance the sound he creates on 'Mirrorwriting' immensely.
Jamie Woon was probably lucky to become largely lost amongst the maze of hype artists gracing our presence in the past year or so. The lower level of publicity would certainly relieve a lot of pressure in releasing a debut album, while also helping to focus more precisely on the album itself without being forced to undertake more press and promotional appearances. 'Mirrorwriting' is a fantastic listen from start to finish, and will perhaps propel Woon to greater heights than some of his other British electronic friends.
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