With one collegial line (“Jamie is Jim”) Warp Records spun one of their former toughest acts to sell with a fact that fans of Jamie Lidell ’s chameleonic oeuvres already know ”“ Jamie Lidell is a consummate performer. On Jim you can witness Lidell stepping out from behind his burnished red curtain of electronics to do what he’s always done best ”“ sing original material with the confident gait of all the soul/funk singers he emulates. Whether its Stevie Wonder’s light delivery or Otis Redding’s aggrieved melismas, Jim knows how to charm the ear.

Detractors have certainly tried to flake away Lidell’s musical blueprint with cries of “shameless aping” or “poor substitute for the real deal” ringing true only to a point. Much of the effervescent charm of Multiply ’s soulful funk was the familiarity ensconced in the voice of a scruffy Brit singing with such a full-bodied fluency that you tended to glaze over any niggling feelings you had of him commandeering a former musical ethos.

The same argument will surely be lobbed at Lidell when it comes to Jim . You won’t hear any of the chiming electronic clockwork burbling that served as an undercurrent for Multipy ’s 'New Me' or 'You Got Me Up.' Instead Lidell experiments with his new band (I know it’s weird) in the same twiddling fashion. Much can be said of Lidell’s honeyed voice throughout Jim but the liner notes also name check longtime collaborators Mocky and Gonzales integral parts of Jim’s squelchy nü-soul equation.

Co-producer Mocky shares songwriting credits on virtually all the album's songs; Gonzales worked on two, and the Tower Recordings' associate Andre Vida, in charge of Multiply 's clarion call horns, is credited on one.

Of course on the Stevie Wonder-esque single 'Another Day' you get minute superfluities like samples of birds chirping (think the water drops for 'Overjoyed'). Many of the song’s deal with love and relationships and the slow jams ('All I Wanna Do,' 'Rope of Sand,' or 'Green Light' pile on the Al Green or Marvin Gaye melodrama to stunning effect. Pinwheeling electronics and doctored vocals add a particularly nice touch on the latter. They show up on the faster tracks as well. For instance “Hurricane” uncoils its electronic entrails before its conclusion. This is some of the sultriest music crafted from soul’s template and certainly from Lidell.

It’s often natural to align soul’s inherent dichotomy (gospel and r & b) with country music’s own identity disorder of cowboy drinking rebellion expressed in the same breadth of the traditional sanctity of Sunday worship. In the words of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame soul is “music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of funky, secular testifying."

For artists like Lidell, his nü-soul “testifying” dipped his ink in the same well but adds a quick lick of atonal electronics. Where his first album (2000’s Muddlin’ Gear ) became a sticky mess, Jim wears its breezy charisma like a white tuxedo. Tailor-made live show funk numbers ('Out Of My System' and 'Figured Me Out') and sparkling sunny day 50s doo-wop rock like 'Where D’You Go' round out the album’s self-aware pastiche. I’ll take this substitute any day though. Jim sparkles with the same kind of evergreen oldies gusto that Lidell tips his eccentric dancing shoes towards. In all corners of the room his gonzo act still feels in control. 78%

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Video - Jamie Lidell - 'Another Day'