Jim Noir, Self Titled

I asked my roomate if he'd ever heard any Jim Noir. He said "No. What kinda music is it?" I laughed at him. And not because of the tiny booger on the side of his cheek but because trying to pigeon hole Jim Noir into some specific musical genre is like saying Burt Reynolds' mustache doesn't know how to act. Impossible. Each song on his new self titled album sounds like it could have come from a different person- which is crazy because, although he hires musicians when he tours, he plays all the instruments on his recordings. Although he uses Earthly instruments for the most part, his guitars and pianos and so ons have nice and mild electronic manipulation. I say mild because it isn't the kind of beligerant depeche modian ump-t ump-t seen in some electric-based music. I think a big part of this is due to almost all of the songs having good old 20th century percussion. Some of the songs feel genuinely old fasioned and are electronically tampered with just enough to not even really be outwardly noticable. There's one song, "What U Gonna Do?" that reminded me of The Beatles before their hair got long. On the other end of the album's spectrum is the song "Good Old Vinyl" which sounds like something made in a basement with a Casio keyboard and a 4-track. Ever heard Daniel Johnston? Well give him an English accent and you pretty much have the song right there. Yeah, I was a little scared too. Something I immediately noticed on this album was the guy's vocals. Noir' uses his voice more like another instrument, with lots of well choreographed layers, and different effects on each layer. Sort of like musical schitzophrenia, which could be potentially creepy, but not here folks. Yeah, here it's pretty much beautiful here. I also really liked how he seems to use his voice more for the sounds (lots of harmonies and such) than the actual words. Though even when he does sing coherently, this multiplicity made me personally feel that the words themselves were less important than the sounds they were making. Hence I have no idea what kind of message Jim Noir is trying to convey, as it has an effect only on my sub-soncious, and who gives a shit about the sub-concious anyway? I know I don't, and neither do the burning babies I've been having dreams about every night since I got the album. This vocal rad is one of the few things that link every song with one another. Otherwise, like I said before, each song could easily be from another musician, in a different time, on a different continent- except Antarctica, as there are no Spurka Contra songs.Jim Noir is not from every continent however, but from Davyhulme, Manchester. His birth name is Alan Roberts but he changed it in homage to Vic Reeves, whose real name is Jim Moir. He probably changed to the M to an N because he didn't want Burt Reynolds or his Mustache to come after him...I know I'm a retard. This album was recorded on the Seattle-based indie record label Basuk Records, however his first album from 2005, Tower of Love, was recorded on the UK label, My Dad Recordings. Which is funny because my dad can't even work the remote control in the dark, let alone run a whole recording studio, but either way, I'm gonna have him record the Jaw-Harp Minstrels album I've been working on. More on that later though. For now, check out Jim Noir's self-titled celebration.