After a lengthy hiatus, British singer-songwriter Jamie Woon returns with an album that's much smoother than his debut.
Jamie Woon/ Making Time
When Night Air came out in late 2010, the name Jamie Woon almost instantly caught the attention of post-dubstep fans who were looking to hear more from the likes of then emerging James Blake.
Co-produced by the UK’s ever-enigmatic Burial, the breakthrough single was a masterful ode to nocturnal solace built upon a sparse undercurrent of sophisticated house production. “I’ve acquired a kind of madness/Daylight fills my heart with sadness/And only silent skies can soothe me/Feel that night air flowing through me,” Woon sang in a unique voice that blurred the line between impregnable aloofness and overt seduction. Released the following year, his debut album Mirrorwriting spawned a string of sleeper hits including Lady Luck, Spirits and Shoulda.
He then virtually went AWOL before resurfacing again in 2013, providing vocals on January, one of the songs off Disclosure’s debut, Settle. Another two years went by and finally the 32-year-old Londoner is back with his long-overdue second LP, Making Time. Working with producer Alex “Lexxx” Dromgoole (Bjork, Madonna, Goldfrapp), Woon delivers a 10-track set that shifts away from post-dubstep and moves towards the smoother soundscapes of ’90s neo-soul — think music crafted by Maxwell and D’Angelo. In fact, lead single Sharpness sounds as if it were one of Maxwell’s songs, with its large helpings of slick midtempo R&B groove. “Is it written on my back, yeah/Take it back and then let it go,” Woon croons. “Every day is the day that you saved me/Light into darkness cut on the sharpness of you.”
Also in abundance are jazz influences. Tracks like the album opener Message, Thunder and Lament all feature subtle jazz elements, whether it’s vocal scats, brass accents or strummed guitar. Movement, on the other hand, comes closest to what was on offer on Mirrorwriting. Built on percolating percussions and hefty basslines, the song packs the most punch here. “Is it in openness that a lonely man can find/What he ever denied?/Is it the way of the world if the world gets undermined/When you’re living your life?” he asks, adeptly ad-libbing the last syllable. Closer Dedication is a sprawling six-odd-minute number that makes for a perfect soundtrack to the late-night/early-morning comedown.
Unlike his largely electronic-oriented debut, Woon’s latest offering feels a lot more human in its execution. His voice, having now grown more mature and full of nuances, lends itself well to the minimal yet elegant combination of R&B, soul and jazz that dominate the album. Making Time is not an immediate-sounding album. It doesn’t have the kind of urgency most pop records have.
But then again this is not a run-of-the-mill pop record, so it doesn’t really need to draw listeners in with catchy hooks. Like Woon himself, the majority of the LP takes its own sweet time in revealing what it’s capable of doing and delivering. Indeed, it requires a little bit of patience, but trust us, it will pay off in the end.
THE PLAYLIST
My Life as Ali Thomas/ Daughter and Son
Daughter and Son is the first single by indie-folk quartet My Life as Ali Thomas since they left Tigger Twins and signed with Warner Music Thailand. The song is a piece of poetry accompanied by a swaying acoustic arrangement (save for the last 40 seconds of pure rocking out). “It’s called a house under a breaking sun/Baby don’t sit down until your dream is done,” vocalist Kanyapak “Pie” Wuttara sings in the opening verse in a voice we feel is the most unique in Thai music right now.
The Charapaabs/ Sala Kon Sao (Funeral Party)
At first glance, The Charapaabs (The Aged) may seem like a novelty band — what with that self-deprecating name and the fact that all four members refer to themselves with the prefix lung (uncle) in the song credit. With their first single Sala Kon Sao (Funeral Party), however, the elderly foursome prove that they are for real, offering up a solid ’90s alternative sound with hilarious lyrics to boot: “The host [of a funeral] can’t really play host, so there’ll be no talking to guests.”
Boots (featuring Deradoorian)/ Aquaria
Best known for producing much of Beyonce’s 2013 self-titled fifth studio album, Jordy Asher, aka Boots, has been a prolific creative all-rounder. Fresh off writing and directing a post-apocalyptic short film Motorcycle Jesus, Boots follows up with the title track taken from his new album, Aquaria. Equal parts brooding and sinister, the texturally-layered number features former Dirty Projectors member Angel Deradoorian on vocal duties as she offers a slice of cryptic metaphor: “Don’t cross the river with an alligator underneath your knees/The golden promise of desire resting underneath the seas.”
Missy Elliott (featuring Pharrell)/ WTF (Where They From)
After appearing as a guest on Janet’s club anthem Burnitup! we’re finally treated to a new song from Miss E herself. The Pharrell-assisted jam WTF (Where They From) marks Missy’s first single in three years since Triple Threat and 9th Inning, and sees her putting lyrical lunacy and tongue-in-cheek flippancy back in hip hop. “The dance that you doing is dumb/How they do where you from?” she quips before goes on to claim that she’s Big Mac and that her “junk in the trunk make you pumps in the bump”. Oh, Missy, how we have missed you!
Coldplay/ Adventure of a Lifetime
Coldplay have really gone from a largely predictable band to a slightly more unpredictable one, haven’t they? Lifted from their upcoming seventh LP, A Head Full of Dreams, lead single Adventure of a Lifetime features guitar riffs inspired by Guns N’ Roses’ classic Sweet Child O’ Mine. To our ears, though, the whole thing recalls the music from younger, more hip bands like Foals and Two Door Cinema Club. As far as the lyrics go, it’s about that simple joy of falling in love again (“Now I feel my heart beating/I feel my heart underneath my skin/And I feel my heart beating/Oh, you make me feel I’m alive again”).
