Jamie Lidell's reputation has largely been built on the back of his Supercollider partnership with Christian Vogel, his well received Muddlin' Gear album for Warp and some spectacular recent live performances, all of which have built Multiply into an eagerly anticipated album.

It doesn't disappoint, and despite an obvious affinity with the music of Otis Redding, Stevie Wonder and Prince, retains a fiercely individual sound. This is partly due to Lidell's virtuosity in the studio, an expanded drum sound adding real depth to the funkier tracks. The principle reason for buying this album, however, is his voice.

From a whisper to a full-throated yell, he also demonstrates remarkable control at times, conveying intense emotions as if it was the easiest thing in the world. The title track, where Redding's influence is at its keenest, is a case in point, Lidell singing "I'm so tired of repeating myself" before breaking into a smile at the end of the chorus. The searching final track, Game For Fools, is Lidell laid bare, crooning almost helplessly toward the end.

When he chooses to funk things up the results are astonishing. When I Come Back Around is a superb P-funk stunner, Lidell's studio drum track securing exhilarating fills and the vocal layers overlapping perfectly - one to wig out to on the dancefloor. Even the extended keyboard solos seem like a good idea! Meanwhile the blustery funk of Newme is fronted by an evocative sax riff, straight out of Harlem.

The slower tracks work well too. A Little Bit More finds the singer dissecting the end of a relationship over a low, throaty backing vocal and the sort of bass heard booming from car stereos. What's The Use? reveals his penchant for a good lyric - after enquiring, "What's the use of figuring it all out?" he declares, "I'm a walking talking question mark".

It's interesting to compare Jamie Lidell with his British white soul contemporaries, and revealing to note that nobody seems to be pushing the funk in quite the same way at the moment. The most obvious comparison is Jamiroquai, whose latest album is nearly upon us, but it's difficult to imagine him funking things up as well as this, hard to see the boundaries being pushed with quite such a compelling urgency. Lidell can achieve all these things - his is a rare talent, demanding to be heard.

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