Gil Scott Heron/ I’m New Here

Gil Scott-Heron
I’m New Here
(XL Recordings)

It seems astonishing to admit, but at the age of 60, Gil Scott-Heron may have produced one of the freshest and most forward-thinking albums available this month.
His first for thirteen years, I’m New Here is both intensely personal and at the same time thematically universal. For the most part his vocals offer up the same notable spoken-word as he did in the '70s, but when he croons his blues it’s almost as if Tom Waits has been shot from a canon straight into our lugholes.
The title track 'I'm New Here' brings you into Scott-Heron's offbeat, almost funny world with the line ÒI did not become someone different, that I did not want to beÓ , and is followed up with a semi-biographical sketch painted with insistent acoustic guitar. Further interludes celebrate the strong females in Scott-Heron’s life, while the music exists as wholly masculine and with all the implied attributes of the gender: private, strong and proud.
A collaborative work with label founder and fan Richard Russell, the real success of the album is where these two have married tradition and evolution. While Scott-Heron has largely been praised for his influence on hip and trip-hop, it does not go astray that there has been some osmosis of the genre’s current artists into these 15 tracks. The cover of Robert Johnson's blues staple ‘Me And The Devil’ is backed by a Massive Attack-style bleak industrial beat, while ‘The Crutch’ imagines a drug addled character and illustrates it with circular, descending tones.
Perhaps most unsettling is the album’s ability to leave you in reflection. The liner notes suggest avoiding all distractions and letting the music sink in – and indeed if you spend half an hour pausing for thought with this album, it could just make your year.