Jimi Tenor - Out of Nowhere
(Matador)
Jimi Tenor thinks he's Prince, except he's Finnish, a bit more
electronic-oriented, and someone gave him a 60-piece orchestra to arrange. This
first American release (on Matador) sounds perfectly good on a paper, but the results
don't really work.
To give you some idea of the eclecticism of Mr. Tenor, the orchestral
compositions that begin Out of Nowhere sound like Henry Cowell, before breaking into
"Hypnotic Drugstore," which sounds like Amon Duul II's folkier moments crossed with
70's blaxploitation music. Tenor's Prince-like vocals come in with some smooth
saxophone parts, so the piece sounds like Fela Kuti crossed with Wham! While some
genre-bending artists succeed (Family Fodder!), Jimi Tenor comes across as a madman
who was given a little bit too much freedom in the studio, but without the creative
genius that makes some madmen fun to listen to.
It's not that this record is just overly ambitious--it's actually
unlistenable. Much of the record sounds like bad soundtrack music with lite jazz
inflections. The attempts at integrating Eastern styles with his pop songs just
comes off as a second-rate Cornershop. His electronic nature (and his connection to
Warp) hardly seems represented except for the strange synthesizers; there is nothing
groundbreaking or even interesting about the way he uses sound.
Good records can be made by integrating many influences, songwriting, and
large ensemble arrangements (Talk Talk's two perfect records come to mind). Tenor's
songwriting is undercut by schlock and he is trying to throw everything into the band,
without a strong idea of what will come out. This forgettable record is so bad that
it may rank up there with William Shatner's Transformed Man.
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