Jamie Lidell Scratches His "Itchy Sonic Feet"

Jamie Lidell's wacky live shows might surprise you given the smoothed-out, classic Motown sound of Jim, his third full-length album.

Jim dropped in April and Lidell, who used to be known for his shows full of solo beatboxing and sampling, is touring with a full band to support the disc. Although he might be backed by several accomplished musicians like Vancouver jazz singer Denzal Sinclaire, the double saxophone playing Andre Vida and Taylor Savvy (a.k.a. Daddy Szigeti), his IDM stylings haven't exactly gone away. Halfway through his set, the band exit the stage and Lidell performs solo, singing and beatboxing into his microphone and warping the sounds with his laptop and equipment.

You can attribute this stylistic melange to what Lidell calls his pair of "itchy sonic feet." Much has been made of how Jim is a complete departure from his earlier electronica work, and the album has been compared to the work of classic soul artists like Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder and Otis Redding. Lidell is the rare kind of artistic chameleon who won't be pigeonholed into any particular genre.

"A lot of artists, you can trace something in their career and it's a very obvious line in their work, kind of a signature in a way," Lidell says over the phone from a tour stop in Ottawa. "I respect that.

"In a way, I'm kind of envious of that. I've said it before and maybe it was a bit of a lazy description of me, but maybe I'm a little bit too schizophrenic to really stay in one place for long enough, or maybe I've just got itchy feet, you know? Itchy sonic feet. I like to move around."

Lidell recorded Jim with co-producer and Canadian musician Mocky — who's worked with Feist, Peaches and Gonzales, all of whom have also collaborated with Lidell — in Los Angeles, Paris and Berlin on analogue equipment. Lidell says this was a learning process, since he was used to digital recording.

"The reason I've made a more sort of classic-sounding record this time is because it's actually really new for me to record in a kind of acoustic, analogue way just with microphones and so on."

There have been many changes for Lidell, touring band included. He finds it strange to be on stage with a group of accomplished musicians every night. While he's learning a lot from his bandmates, he says he's a bit uncomfortable with his role as leader.

"Group mind is a very strange and interesting and troubling dynamic for me sometimes. Sometimes it's really strong and, other times, you kind of feel like you you've lost a couple of people along the way, you know? It's very hard to maintain this kind of, like, telepathy, I suppose. But it does happen and it is happening now with this band. I'm kind of one foot on both sides of the fence, really. I'm still kind of itching to play solo and, at the same time, the band is kind of like an undeniable force of nature. And when we all come together, it's something that I could never do alone."

As for those itchy feet, Lidell doesn't know where they'll end up next. He jokes about the possibility of recording a metal album, and says he's been asked several times to record with his friend, Mike Patton. On the immediate horizon, he'll plant those feet on stage for several shows with Elton John in November and December.

"I never really know what I'm gonna pull out of myself," says Lidell. "[My next album] might be sort of a lovely, strange combination of genres. Who knows?"

Lidell will play these Canadian shows:

June 6 Ottawa, ON @ Babylon
July 31 Quebec City, QC @ La Grande Scene
Aug. 4 Montreal, QC @ Osheaga Music And Arts Festival