Jamie Woon - Mirrorwriting

when's the official release date for this?

April 11th I think.

dude was supposed to play toronto w/ mt. kimbie on friday but dropped out at the last minute. i'm not sure about why he couldn't make it, but it's a shame because i was really looking forward to hearing what he's like live.

Yeah, Montreal was supposed to be last night but he bailed. Between that and the cancelled Kingdom/Girl Unit/Bok Bok gig Friday I am less than pleased.

ok so this is much better than I expected it to be - still not convinced by "lady luck" but anyone who's heard the early acoustic versions of "spiral" and "gravity" knows that these versions are so much improved with the electronic flourishes. amazing sound.

(srsly, "Gravity" = sexxx)

It's growing on me and I apologise to James Blake and Jamie Woon for comparing them with each other (even though I still get the same feeling from their albums).

i've still never knowingly heard any james blake (i'm sure lex understands this - my reluctance basically stems from the fact that blake shares the same name as one of our least favourite american tennis players).

it opened the door for the "as overrated as his tennis namesake" line for me! and the observation that james blake (producer)'s rise to prominence coincided exactly with james blake (tennis player) falling out of the top 100...

I'm not sure if I like this... the beats and textures I love but something about it sounding like Phil Collins at his most new-agey is off-putting for me.

^^It's all about the beats/texture for me - one of the reasons i wasn't so looking forward to this initially was due to hearing his earlier stuff, some of which which were sub-Buckley at best. The production totally redeems the corniness imo.

the cancelled Kingdom/Girl Unit/Bok Bok gig Friday

coulda told you this was coming due to Austin cancellations a couple weeks ago :/

Oh, I mean. I knew it got cancelled a couple of weeks ago. I just meant that once Night Slugs got visa-issue cancelled, Woon was my backup plan for the weekend.

ahhh gotcha

"Middle" is fantastic.

"lady luck" is much better in album context

Yes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZfDbEQAfOY

Old version of 'Spirits', which is kind of awesome. Curious if the live show leans more towards this kind of thing or if the backing tracks just get played over the soundsystem.

he has a full live band, if that helps?

something about it sounding like Phil Collins at his most new-agey

finally someone is selling this thing

I'm not sure I'm feeling this. It definitely has its moments, 'Night Air' obviously, 'Middle' and 'Spirits' but as a whole it feels kinda tepid and gloopy. The production is nice enough (although the "tasteful dubstep wobble" can fuck off now, especially when paired with acoustic guitar) but I'm not sure the songwriting is really consistent throughout.

Biggest problem is his voice though - he sings almost everything in the same way. Which is forgiveable in technically limited voices but Jamie can sing. Maybe "being able to sing" isn't enough if you don't really have much conception of phrasing or dynamics, but I'd like him to reach for something more than "pleasant" most of the time. No tension or drama. It's not even that he's 'tasteful', I listened to Maxwell immediately afterwards and it sounded elemental, and that's not JUST because Maxwell is a superior singer technically, he knows how to phrase and deliver a lyric for emotional impact, and Jamie Woon on this evidence doesn't.

comparing him with maxwell is stacking the deck a bit

not that i might not end up agreeing overall

comparing him with maxwell is stacking the deck a bit

Yeah I think I've acknowledged that in saying that Maxwell is obviously a much better vocalist technically (and most vocalists would suffer in comparison) but my issue isn't with the quality of Jamie's voice but the use he puts it to - like I said phrasing and dynamics.

haha i think my point remains

Okay he'd suffer in comparison to a Ne-Yo or someone as well. I'm not saying "the problem is that he's not as good as Maxwell", I'm saying "on this evidence the problem is that his voice has limited emotional range".

That's what I like about Woon's singing - he avoids hollerholler emoting and goes for a beguilingly streamlined take. This simple legibility is part of the reason why he rings through the slightly muffled and distorted backing so well.

ne-yo and maxwell are hardly hollerers!

True, that was carried over from a discussion I was just having in real life.

Maxwell doesn't holler, he's fusspot instead - not that I don't love him.

It's not about hollering, it's about phrasing. It really feels like Jamie Woon phrases most of what he sings in basically the same way, and as a result he feels weirdly slippery and insubstantial as a vocal presence.

yeah he reminds me of a lot of trip-hop vocalists in that respect

yeah i agree that his phrasing is a huge part of his appeal. i keep getting hung up on how he says 'lady luck,'it's just so great.

Enjoying this somewhat, but not feeling the love everyone else seems to be. Am disappointed. Wanted an album of 'Night Air's and 'Wayfaring Strsnger's.

i like this album after a few spins but yeah, "night air" by far the best thing on here

There's an album called Channel Pressure by Joel Ford and Daniel Lopatin coming out that is going to knock all this fey, blue eyed R&B, blubstep into a cocked hat.

This album made complete sense to me when I read about how much he loved Lewis Taylor. There's something very 90s about it.

ha i just listened to that. i prefer jamie woon!

xp re: ford & lopatin

ford & lopatin, based on one listen, is kind of...like if junior boys dude sang over icy knifelike synths? i enjoyed it but for some reason it didn't grab me and make me pay attention like those did

That description makes me want to hear it!

I've not felt the urge to go back to this at all. Wish he'd aspire to something other than a kind of lukewarm niceness and the production choices exacerbate that rather than compensating for it.

i can't get into this even a little bit...but i found night air sort of annoying and histrionic also.

Have you heard Games/Ford & Lopatin's "Strawberry Skies" Lex? It has Laurel Halo on vocals, and I think you'll prefer her to whoever sings on this album.

i discovered "strawberry skies" in the ILM EOY poll - i love it!

Glad to hear, the anthemic surge 2 minutes in is fantastic. Considering that track's far more worked out song structure I have a sneaky suspicion Halo did more than just sing - we need a Halo, Ford & Lopatin album stat.

the hud mo mix of lady luck sounds like idm timberlake

Haven't heard Mirrorwriting yet, but I know I'm looking forward to Ford & Lopatin (aka Games) a LOT. Doran and others, did you hear the album by VHS Head from last year?

The guy I most associate Jamie Woon with is Ben Westbeech though - they both even look kinda similar.

i fucking love the hudson mohawke remix of "lady luck" - i'm not even a huge hudmo fan but his LAYER CRASHING WAVES OF EVERYTHING OVER EVERYTHING tactic works so well here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0JBXfSbvZM

I like me the sound of that.

the album itself gets the mood spot on but the stickable songwriting stuff less so

"middle" is my shit