Jamie Woon Mirrorwriting (Polydor / Candent Songs)
2/5
By: Christiana Spens
R&B, soul and dubstep all mixed together with what sounds like a little hint of boy band isn’t the usual fodder of your average indie rock website, but it’s still easy to see why people would like Jamie Woon, and his new album Mirrorwriting. Every song on the record is thoroughly relaxing and painstakingly produced, and Woon has a well-trained, soulful voice.
The whole way through listening, though, I keep thinking of either Justin Timberlake or the X Factor. Maybe that just says something about how little I ever listen to that genre (if that conflaboration of sounds can really be called a genre…) though – for it must be said that Woon is clearly more sophisticated than either Timberlake or anything Simon Cowell related, and given time, there becomes something quite mesmerising about some of these songs.
Yet there is nevertheless a real lack of originality. I feel like I’ve heard all these tunes before, somewhere – in a shop or a cab or maybe a hair salon. Perhaps it is that these sounds, these lyrics, seem to express just generic “soul” – a formula that will move people in certain ways and sound good in the background (of either a real life conversation or a drinks commercial), but seems empty of much more than cliché.
Rather than expressing true soul, Mirrorwriting feels like emotion watered down with a lot of production. Whilst that might satisfy many, anyone who enjoys listening to something a little more closely won’t find it all that compelling.
Jamie Woon - MIRRORWRITING by ind-k
Artists in this article: Jamie Woon
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