Gil Scott-Heron
I’m New Here
(XL Recordings, 2010)

It’s been 40 years since Gil Scott-Heron told us that the revolution would not be televised, and Heron feels a need to reintroduce himself with I’m New Here. The title track is actually a cover of a song by folkster Smog—finger-picked guitar and mostly spoken words that intimate, “I did not become someone different, that I did not want to be, but I’m new here.” He goes on to explain, “Turn around turn around turn around / You may come full circle / I’m new here again.”

This is a little different from what you might expect from this soul master and proto hip-hop musician. Musically, the whole record’s full of surprises. XL Recordings founder Richard Russell—who cut his teeth in the early-‘90s UK rave scene—handles production duties, finding deep electronic grooves that still contain hints of soul and gospel music.

“On Coming From a Broken Home (Pt. 1)” and closer “On Coming From a Broken Home (Pt. 2)” set a poetic narrative about a trying upbringing over Kanye West samples. “Your Soul and Mine” find Heron’s spoken words float over brooding, dark, ambient rhythms. And “I’ll take Care of You” is a sparse soul track, big on piano, with a little of the staccato—even pizzicato—string sound that colored many ’70s soul tracks.

The stand-out songs are both macabre blues numbers: “Me and the Devil” and “New York Is Killing Me.” The communication between Scott-Heron and Russell is superior on these tracks, with chewy layers of music that still leave plenty of room for wabi-sabi vocals. “Me and the Devil” is a cover of a Robert Johnson tune. The DJ Shadow-styled soundscape is a departure from the natural, blues guitar sound of Johnson. But listening to the two versions, both emit the same desperate quality. “New York Is Killing Me” is another fascinating blues number with exuberant handclaps, extremely sparse percussion, and rhythm brought on by backwards slide guitar and electronic soundscapes. Scott-Heron is joined by Gospel back-up vox. On the track, Scott-Heron’s docs can’t figure out his trouble, while he insists he “need[s] to go home and take it slow down in Jackson, Tennessee.”

Producer Russell recently Tweeted, “I’ve done lots of tracks, edits and remixes, A&R’d many records, but never produced a whole album before” and “the first album i produced is by 1 of my all-time musical heroes. who means more to me than Bob Dylan. could’ve been scary. actually it was.” Actually, Russell had good reason to be scared. A new foray by Scott-Heron could have resulted in a novelty record. But this unlikely pairing has produced some beautiful results and I’m New Here manages to score a new notch in Scott-Heron’s legendary catalog.

Watch: “Me and the Devil” and “Where Did the Night Go” [at GilScottHeron.net]

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