In the wake of James Blake’s emergence into the mainstream towards the end of last year, the atmospheric, subdued colours of post-dubstep have become more familiar to us, and Blake’s success is likely to stimulate further explorations into this murky underground scene as the year progresses. One man who is receiving much critical acclaim for his experimentation with similarly sparsely-textured sounds and relaxed beats, is singer-songwriter and producer Jamie Woon, who recently came fourth on BBC’s sound of 2011 list. Cherwell spoke to Woon this week, ahead of his gig at the Jericho Tavern on 19th February.
It all started for the 27-year old Brit School graduate in 2007, when his ethereally beautiful electro-soul track ‘Wayfaring Stranger’, was remixed by smooth dub-steppers Burial. Despite the song’s wide-spread recognition, Woon was in no hurry to build on this first step towards fame. Instead, he took time out to reflect on the direction of his sound: ‘I wasn’t ready to make an album until now: record companies are looking for a finished package’. He goes on: ‘It seems that, for example, Radio 1 now shows far more openness to new stuff’. Indeed, a few years ago it was unlikely that, however accomplished he might be, Woon’s brand of soulful but minimal and self-produced music would have won over the major record label Polydor, to which he is now signed. His forthcoming album, MirrorWriting (due for release the 4th April) has, then, come along just at the right time, with 2010 seeing an explosion in musical eclecticism that is inspiring more and more artists to delve into the underground scene. Woon agrees with my suggestion that over the past couple of years, his music has met Blake’s sounds somewhere in the middle of a spectrum which ranges from neo-soul at one end, to ambient IDM at the other: Blake, having come from the latter end, seems to be progressing towards a more soulful strain in his music, while Woon, having already perfected his vocals, is using them to great effect in a more ambient, layered sound-world than his early material.
Nevertheless, Woon is keen to emphasise the centrality of the melismatic vocals in his latest tracks. I am somewhat surprised at first when I ask him to describe his sound, and he classes it as ‘R’n’B’. When he expands on this categorisation, however, summarising his work as ‘groove-based and vocal-led’, I realise that his music actually goes some way towards rediscovering the true essence of this genre, reaching back to its roots in soul and blues. His influences include mid-90s R’n’B groups such as Boys II Men as well as celebrated singer-songwriters Lewis Taylor and Jeff Buckley. Despite his wide range of musical inspiration, his sensitively ornamented lyricism remains entirely his own, and coupled with an immaculate rhythmic timing one senses an innate musical understanding lying always at the surface of his work. His characteristic touching poignancy is particularly apparent in his latest single ‘Night Air’, (produced by Burial), which leaves its haunting melody snaking through your head for hours after listening to the song. I ask him what we can expect from his debut album, to which he gives a seemingly contradictory answer, labelling it as ‘groovy and upbeat’, while also ‘reserved and ambient … definitely a ‘night-time record”. Yet listening to ‘Night Air’ justifies this statement entirely: his mellow voice belies a lively, percussive beat, while the call-and-response effect between his voice and a sampled chorus gives an eery, crepuscular feel to the record.
It becomes apparent that Woon has had music flowing through him from a very young age. His mother, Mae Makenna, is a Celtic folk singer, who has provided backing vocals for artists from Michael Jackson to Bjork. ‘I was never particularly encouraged to take this path’, he says, ‘and I had no formal training. My vocal style happened, I guess, by osmosis, through listening to my mum’s records. It was, as a teenager, watching her making and recording her music that inspired me to do the same’. He describes her as the ‘biggest influence’ on his music, although his work has come a long way from his earlier more folk-derived songs as ‘Gravity’.
It will be intriguing to see how the singer translates his laptop-produced songs on to the stage, a process which he himself describes as a ‘challenge’. What can we expect from his gig in Oxford next month? He describes the set-up as being a synthesis of ‘live and recorded elements, real and electronic percussion’, backed up by complex programming and sampling, along with his four-piece band, comprising of keyboards, bass and drums. His softly-spoken, thoughtfully-layered vocals will be at the heart of the performance, and, for all those not acquainted with the works of Flying Lotus, Mount Kimbie and James Blake, this gig will be worth attending simply on the strength of his velvety, mesmerizing voice.
