Mirrorwriting - Jamie Woon
Mirrorwriting Image
Metascore

Generally favorable reviews - based on 17 Critics What's this?

User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 10 Ratings

  • Summary: The debut full-length album for the British R&B singer who graduated from the same infamous Brit School as Adele and Amy Winehouse was produced with Will Bevan (aka Burial) and Royce Wood, Jr.
  • Record Label: Verve
  • Genre(s): Electronic, R&B, Downtempo, Contemporary R&B, Alternative Singer/Songwriter
  • More Details and Credits »
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 17
  2. Negative: 0 out of 17
  1. Apr 25, 2011
    80
    This first album have produced something so beguiling, it's clearly been time well spent.
  2. May 25, 2011
    80
    With it's at times blissfully understated cool Mirrorwriting confirms Woon as a man capable of a making truly remarkable music, the sort of music that makes it clear what a miraculous triviality it is to turn on a record and let it spin.
  3. Woon's work is unashamedly bucolic (he writes songs about going for a walk) and beat-literate (he's worked with Burial), and his tremulous, medieval folk singer voice makes it perfectly bearable.
  4. May 31, 2011
    60
    A quietly accomplished record, just not the one people were expecting. [Jun 2011, p.125]

See all 17 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 1
  2. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. The expected infiltration of dubstep into mainstream music has took a while, but 2011 has seen a marked increase in pop acts turning to atmospheric alternative beats to showcase their music. Jamie Woon is a traditional R&B singer who has turned to contemporary developmental shifts, the same way Kenny Thomas used Acid Jazz in the early 90s, and Craig David, who was heavily influenced by UK garage at the turn of the century. Woon's debut collection is a relative disappointment in that it kicks off with an outstanding single ("Night Air"), and then drifts along with wishy washy compositions that become tepid musical fashion statements and lack any lasting relevance. The attention to detail that's given to designing, manipulating and engineering this production simply can't overcome the severe lack of memorable tunes, resulting in a melee of indistinguishable creations. Woon is a decent enough singer, but too often his silky input becomes cold and unemotional, drained by competition with the shapes that surround him.
    One superb single and eleven inconsequential slabs of filler; one soon realises that "Mirrorwriting" is all show and little substance. It's not awful, just fashionable and very, very flat.
    http://hackskeptic.com
    Expand