Born to a Malaysian Chinese father and a Scottish mother, Jamie Woon was one of the first solo artists to take a breed of dubstep into the pop charts after the rise and rise of James Blake. Bafflingly enough, this sound of the South London underground got some of its first mainstream exposure from a BRIT School graduate, who was only a year younger than Amy Winehouse. Combining the sound of dubstep with an aching soul voice and pure pop melodies, Woon put his first songs on the internet and was signed to Live Recordings by 2007, the same year he released his first E.P “Wayfaring Stranger”. Wisely, he let his sound and his songwriting skills mature between then and his debut album.
In between, the style of hushed, natural electronica that he’d pioneered had become a genuine commercial force thanks to the success of The XX and the aforementioned James Blake. Because of this, Woon placed fourth in the BBC’s annual sound of 2011 poll, and his debut album, “Mirrorwriting”, cemented him as one of the most vital voices of his generation. Since then, he’s all but left the spotlight, only returning for acclaimed tours and collaborations with his close friends (and sometimes housemates) Portico and on Disclosure’s album track “January”. Don’t be fooled though, this is an artist nearing the peak of his prowess, and where he goes next is going to be sensational. Highly recommended.
Jamie Woon is a part of a new movement of electronic music called post dubstep, and has an incredibly fresh, and unique sound.
His combination of electronics and minimalism creates other wordly dimensions of strange textures and noises. His vocals are extremely soulful and the lyrics are personal and intelligent. It is hard to really describe how cool his use of electronics is, though.
What makes Jamie Woon's sound truly great is his creativity and the clever application of digital effects, editing, sampling, and looping. The real time editing of the vocals is another thing that makes his live performances really cool, though. Jamie is capable of doing some really cool, and trippy things in real time, with certain equipment, and it the style seems extremely new and innovative.
The crowd around me was extremely quiet, and the venue was really intimate. We could practically here his vocals without a microphone and PA needed. Yet, when the vocals would be edited, the edited vocals also sounded like they were being played live. It was truly incredible. The audience all seemed to love the music, and were swaying, and looking introspective, but the venue was really quiet and time. The show was overall incredible.
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