Jamie Lidell: JIM

Label: Warp

Jamie Lidell’s influences are placed in the forefront of JIM, his first album in three years: some mid-70s Stevie Wonder here, some Impressions there. “Another Day” opens the album with restraint and muted horns before careening into the terrifyingly catchy “Wait for Me”, where the propulsively confident music is offset by Lidell’s yearning, uncertain lyrics. (“Where D’You Go” similarly joins brutally honest lyrics with a catchy backbeat; the handclaps don’t hurt.) It’s only on the frenetic “Hurricane” that Lidell’s retro-pop sensibility is fused with a barrage of programmed beats, and it’s a sign of Lidell’s outlook that it manages to fit in with a selection of songs that could otherwise pass for an apocryphal 70s soul album. (Toby)