Album review: Jamie Lidell, Jamie Lidell (Warp)

Jamie Lidell, Jamie Lidell (Warp)

Though latterly resident in Nashville, Jamie Lidell continues to mine the territory where soul meets techno, a precarious manoeuvre that sometimes finds him tumbling between two stools.

There's often a mismatch of temperament between the most brutally juddering of Lidell's quacking synth grooves and the floaty, unanchored manner of his vocal lines, which assert the primacy of soulful delivery over melodic appeal. But when the grunting synths and silky singing collude rather than collide, as in “Big Love” and “What a Shame”, it's a viscerally potent sound.

Download: Big Love; What a Shame; I'm Selfish