Jamie Woon Reveals Details Of 'Mirrorwriting' Album
Wednesday, 09 March 2011
Written by Jon Stickler
Jamie Woon's debut album ‘Mirrorwriting’ has been three years in the making… and a lifetime in the writing. These are twelve pitch-perfect gems that combine forward-thinking production with beautifully crafted songs; a sonic support-system that frames and holds Woon's luminous voice in all the right places. It's intimate without being obvious, emotional without being syrupy and honest without being confessional, where the basic touchstones of human emotion get a fresh and soulful airing.
This, he says, is a calming record, made for himself and for other people. He's crafted a raft of dreamy, unsettled melancholy, pieces of music which try to shake off anxiety by finding a groove and songs that aim to evoke inscrutable things. Oh, and Woon claims there are at least four songs about going for a walk.
Jamie Woon has had a remarkable few months. Back in October he released 'Night Air', as dark, sweet and seductive as molasses, an irresistibly understated combination of Jamie’s uniquely supple voice, his subtly compulsive beats and a sky full of atmosphere. It was written with some additional production from Burial, and came with a remix from superlatively-talented producer Ramadanman (who sealed their friendship by naming one of his 2007 releases 'The Woon'). The next month he was featured in The Guardian's New Band Of The Day, and four weeks later found himself playlisted at Radio 1 and hovering at the top end of the BBC's Sounds of 2011 poll come the start of the year. He's since enjoyed a sell-out tour and announced a second for early summer including a date at London’s Shepherds Bush Empire. Things are changing rapidly for the 28-year-old Londoner.
It's been a long journey to get to this point since his first 12" 'Wayfaring Stranger' came out in 2007. That record, now rated of one of the best 12"s of the last decade thanks to the Burial mix, came out on Live Recordings, an innovative project in Lewisham run by social enterprise Livity, where a group of young men from local estates ran their own label for a year. Woon was heavily into Burial's first album and acting on a passing comment from a mutual friend that the anonymous producer liked male vocals, contacted his record label.
‘Mirrorwriting’ took three years of work and reworking. Woon was sharing a house with fellow musicians Portico Quartet in Clapton, East London working on his MacBook and doing endless takes of each song, recording vocals at The Way studio in Hackney, and 2 months in a cottage in Trevone, Cornwall, where he recorded clicks and taps on the wicker furniture, and recorded the sounds of stones from the nearby stream to turn into snare drums. He admits to doing hundreds of takes in order to get exactly the right combination of mystery and technical polish. By the end he was down to 'only' six or seven takes. He might be a perfectionist, but he's also unpredictable: the night before mastering the record he reprised an old song, Blue Truth, which he released as a free download 2 days later.
‘Mirrorwriting’ is a debut that's ripe for that transition from niche to mainstream. It's a deeply personal record that draws from R 'n B, folk, '80s and '90s soul and pop, UK bass culture and the blues. It digs into emotions we all feel and sends them spinning, just-recognisable, back to us.
"It’s personal, almost therapeutic. I'm quite a private person and I don’t set out to talk about my business in public but when songs are done you can't get around it. They are like a code, and all you need is a mirror to read it."
Tracklisting:
1. Night Air
2. Street
3. Lady Luck
4. Shoulda
5. Middle
6. Spirits
7. Echoes
8. Spiral
9. TMRW
10. Secondbreath
11. Gravity
12. Waterfront
Jamie Woon May/June UK Tour:
26/05 - O2 ABC - Glasgow
29/05 - Academy - Manchester
30/05 - Leeds Met Student Union - Leeds
31/05 - Leadmill - Sheffield
02/06 - Old Dire Station - Bournemouth
03/06 - Anson Rooms - Bristol
04/06 - HMV Institute - Birmingham
06/06 - The Waterfront - Norwich
07/06 - Rescue Rooms - Nottingham
08/06 - Concorde 2 - Brighton
09/06 - O2 Shepherds Bush Empire - London
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