- Summary: The second full-length release for the London-based artist features guest appearances from Miguel Atwood-Ferguson and Lauren Faith.
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- Record Label: Warp
- Genre(s): Jazz
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Score distribution:
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Positive: 7 out of 8
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Mixed: 1 out of 8
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Negative: 0 out of 8
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The WireJul 23, 2020There’s a luxuriant impulse at work on this second album by the London-based keyboardist and producer. The strings in particular work beautifully on the soporific funk of tunes like “1989” or “Toulouse”, suggesting a Xanaxed Roy Ayers recording for CTI in the mid-70s. Aug 2020, p.68]
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Jul 24, 2020Wu Hen is the first mature portrait of Williams. In his integrated approach genre, style, and production techniques all serve as building blocks in the creation of a holistic, spiritually instructive sound world.
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Jul 23, 2020Kamaal Williams’ Wu Hen knows what it is and what it doesn’t want to be. It pays respect to the music it’s imitating and iterating upon, in all of its many forms and in spite of it, it manages to carve out a space in the scenes for itself.
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MojoJul 23, 2020Williams' forward-pushing, inter-generational sound - 70s fusion-era grooves mingle with modern club motifs - is fully formed on this second full solo outing. [Aug 2020, p.91]
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UncutJul 23, 2020It's fastidiously realised, taking in gorgeously orchestrated jazz, hi-octane funk and a pristine slow jam featuring Lauren Faith. [Aug 2020, p.39]
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Jul 24, 2020Williams’ music emphasizes the malleability and evolution of sound across styles and eras, even drifting into an R&B track voiced by the up-and-coming Lauren Faith stashed away near the album’s end. But the continual stylistic shifts make stretches of Wu Hen feel fidgety, hurriedly racing off to somewhere different rather than lingering and deepening its focus.
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Jul 24, 2020A pleasing, if unremarkable, listen.
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