Two years on from The Truth About Love, Lemar is back with his fourth studio album The Reason which is, according to the man himself, a real departure. After swallowing it whole, what struck RealMusic Blog is that the first single, If She Knew, is not the best song on the album. Perhaps not even the second or third best - and don’t get us wrong, it’s no turkey. Maybe the fact that it has the most R&B feel made it the strongest contender for the singles chart, sitting solidly in the Radio 1 top 20 and pipped only by Beyonce herself on the R&B chart. Tipped to be the second single off the album, Weight Of The World is another soulful offering that displays Lemar’s rich voice and poetic penmanship to chart perfection.
RealMusic Blog got slightly giddy at the mixture of styles and approaches on what is broadly a soul/R&B offering. The album opens exuberantly with The Reason, an epic and rousing title track, but there’s also a little soul, a mambo with a deliciously jazzy bridge (Little Miss Heartbreaker, RealMusic Blog’s favourite track), some Motown and everything in between, all of it possible chart material.
“I didn’t go into the studio with an agenda; I just wanted to make good music,” says Lemar of the recording process. “I took time to think about the reason behind life, the reason behind why I do music, the reason why I wanted to be an artist in the first place. I decided to let go and be a little experimental with this one.”
So if RealMusic Blog wanted to be picky, we might say there’s a little less singularity of purpose then his three previous albums, but that would be unnecessary. Lemar has penned some damned good tunes (having written all but one), then honed them to perfection with the help of some of the best in the business.
The Reason was recorded in LA, Miami and Sweden and features production from Jim Jonsin (Lil’ Wayne), as well as Jack Splash (Alicia Keys, Gnarls Barkley) and Jim Beanz (Timbaland). You’ll recognise their influences massaging the best out of almost every track, and the results are so on-target that we could easily imagine the album as a compilation of offerings from the likes of Craig David, Gnarls Barkley, Marvin Gaye, John Legend or perhaps Seal? If the day job doesn’t pan out maybe the boy from Tottenham could consider songwriting a backup career.
Lemar is an artist approaching the height of his game. In an industry where labels can be all about the one album and a quick killing, his has been commendably patient, confident that Lemar has the potential to be an artist with a lifetime of great work. As it is, we reckon The Reason is an album full of experimentation and promise. It’s hands down his best to date and a tempting preview into what the future might hold.
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Lemar’s The Reason is out today.
(Mei Mei Rogers)
