Jamie Lidell – Compass

May 19th, 2010 | Posted in: music

I have been looking forward to Jamie Lidell’s new album Compass for a while, and finally it has arrived. I must say that I had to listen to it a couple of times to get it. And i am still learning to love it. It’s a complicated album. Far less accessible than the previous soulful Jim album. Compass builds on this soul direction Lidell has taken, but takes it to a far more experimental level.

Complex tracks with lots of different samples, and many different ‘sounds’ between the tracks. Ranging from the R&B’ish ‘She Needs Me to the deep and dark ‘Big Drift’ and ‘You See My Light’. Maybe the fact that Lidell has collaborated with a whole range of different artist explain the big differences between the tracks. The album was written in just one month, and was recorded in the studio’s of Beck and Feist. Other influences also include Gonzales, Chris Taylor of Grizzly Bear and Pat Sansone of Wilco.

After listening to it three times or so it is still growing on me, and I am liking it more each time. Give it a shot, and let me know what you think.