Jamie Lidell – Compass

Jamie Lidell’s latest effort, Compass, is a record of collaborations with the likes of Beck, Feist, Chris Taylor of Grizzly Bear, Gonzales, and Pat Sansone of Wilco, along with Lidell’s unmistakable singing style, funky bass work, smooth slow jams, synthetic and acoustic percussion, and wonky pitch-shifted vocals. It’s an album by an artist stepping out on a limb, though he didn’t have to, and who ought be rewarded for taking his craft into the unknown to create a wildly entertaining, engaging, and complex record.

Compass begins with “Completely Exposed,” and in this opening track, Lidell and company have created, hands down, one of the most exciting sonic experiences of this year. Before the song really starts moving, around the thirty-second mark, a tension builds amidst crackling percussion, sneakily smooth keys, and Lidell’s rising voice before the floodgates open and a barrage of sound—comprised of countless unique noises that fit together precisely like some strange puzzle—is unloaded onto the listener, all of it chaotic, interesting, and absolutely wonderful. It’s a fitting introduction to the highs, lows, and everywhere-in-betweens that lie in the forthcoming 14 tracks that make up Compass.

The album is a departure from what could be described—after listening to Compass and then going back to 2008’s Jim—as Lidell’s cleaner, pervious sound. Compass is an all-around dirtier record, but in the most positive of ways. There is more distortion everywhere, and the songs have a general feeling of having been written, torn apart, and pieced back together with the scraps that were left. In “Coma Chameleon,” Lidell’s vocals seem to peak into the red at times, the drums are constant and fuzzy, and the horns that make small, calculated appearances are full of attitude and a general aura of bad-ass; the song’s perfectly placed saxophone solo is gone before it really has time to be appreciated, which makes a good solo great.

Lidell and his crew of producers and high-profile collaborators have created a finished product that is, at times, bright and optimistic, as on “Enough’s Enough.” At other times, though, Compass is dark and introspective, as is the case with near album ender “Big Drift.” But regardless of whether the songs are light or dark or any number of other adjectives one could use, or whether they are distortion-laden and drum-driven or clean and piano-based, every song is full of soul. And, in the end, that’s what makes Compass both unique and no different from any other record Lidell has made.

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