Album Review

Jamie Cullum – The Pursuit

• 6th Nov 2009

Boy, has Jamie Cullum come a long way from a slightly swing “I Could Have Danced All Night”; ‘The Pursuit’ is bolder, more at ease and more musically adept than anything he’s ever produced before. Barely ten seconds in and you find yourself in the midst of a lucidly natural swing tune, the lyrics to “Just One of Those Things” setting a tone as relaxed and carefree as the easygoing, almost improvised-sounding instrumental and vocal solos, riddled with individualities and bursting at the seems with personality. Even Cullum’s more mainstream Indie numbers are somehow a cut above. He manages to make a 4/4 beat and 3 chords eminently jazzy and wonderfully accessible.

Each track is so different from the last that you’re positively blown away by the diversity and skill that has emerged from this still fairly young artist. He can raise your spirits in seconds with jaunty rhythms and thoughtful riffs, then bring them crashing back down in the time it takes to load the next track, exemplified perfectly in the shift between “If I Ruled the World” and “You and Me are Gone.” Cullum’s beautifully mournful cover of the former classic tune is tender, sincere and full of longing with a shoulder-tenseingly perfect solo which leaves you sincerely hoping that one day soon he will be running the world, because certainly it would be a more passionate, involved place to be.

And within seconds we’re yanked out of our melancholy with a fantastic swung number which won’t fail to have you tapping your toes, if not going for it no holds barred and Foxtrotting down the platform (at least you think that’s what a Foxtrot is…). “You and Me are Gone” is true to its title, and transports you into some fantastic New York jazz bar where Cullum and his spectacular backing band are the stars of the show. It is now that the fantastic recording quality of this album is really appreciated, the levels perfect to the degree where it really could be a live recording.

His cover of Rhianna’s “Don’t Stop the Music” comes as a bit of a shock, and sadly is the first track which isn’t quite up to standard; not because it’s anything less than technically superb, but because the style doesn’t fit the content, and one wonders if it might have suited a more bossa nova feel; certainly something more dancey than what we’re given. The descent into mellowed absolution continues through the next few songs with the exception of “Mixtape”, an upbeat, jaunty number but nothing that will stand out; it’s a bungalow dwarfed by the skyscrapers of musical and sentimental expertise which surround it.

Just when things were in danger of getting a bit too mellowed, we’re hit with “We Run Things”, a dark, edgy, young hip-hop track which not only takes Cullum’s versatility to yet another level but also sees him sticking two fingers up to the convention, tradition, and all the things this album defies with its willingness to take risks and stand bold. He has revealed himself as a boundary breaker, whose level of experimentation seems to hold no bounds, displayed aptly by the sweet, honest declaration of devotion which follows in the form of a cover of Sondheim’s tear-jerker which asserts “nothing can harm you, not while I’m around.” And really, safely and staunchly immersed in the warmth of Jamie Cullum’s musical prowess, as it fades to a close on a hauntingly repetitive piano riff, we truly believe him.