Jamie Woon - Making Time Album Review (2015)

Given his debut single found him working with secretive dubstep producer Burial, Jamie Woon has come a long way since he first appeared in 2010, and much of that way has been towards the middle of the road.
Still, his second album doesn’t suffer from its glossy execution, and the fact that he has, to a degree, left behind the blubstep sounds that earned him so many comparisons with James Blake won’t hurt. It has, after all, been four years since Mirrorwriting, during which time he’s kept a fairly low profi le, making occasional live appearances and contributing to tracks by Disclosure and Portico. Making Time shows it’s been worth him taking time: its blue-eyed soul for the digital generation is showcased on the opening Message, its Hall and Oates keyboards twinkling over a shuffl ing beat as Woon croons in a fl awlessly metrosexual style, notes and words sometimes crisply clipped like he can hardly bear their pain. Movement, his comeback single, fi nds him fl irting with R&B, exercising his voice’s higher registers with brio, and he has the nous not to venture into more overwrought X Factor territory. Peculiarly, the album’s highlight is Celebration, which fi nds him combining with Willy Mason, its additional acoustic instrumentation adding welcome textural variation. Track listing "Message" "Movement" "Sharpness" (featuring Robin Hannibal) "Celebration" (featuring Willy Mason) "Lament" (featuring Royce Wood Junior) "Forgiven" "Little Wonder" "Thunder" "Skin" "Dedication"