Spectreview: Jai Paul – Leak 04-13 (Bait Ones)

-WITCH HAZE-

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Are you the kind of person that dreams of fame? Of success? And crucially, success through your art? Jai Paul, a forward-looking electronic artist from London, found himself in the middle of a bidding war at the start of this decade for no other reason than his music was just that good. “BTSTU,” a demo recording that surfaced on MySpace almost 10 years ago, was a thoroughly-accomplished work even in its raw state, exactly the kind of “Dilla-meets-D’Angelo” that Paul would eventually be hyped for. It’s a strutting dynamic push n’ pull with an earworm vocal line, an unconventional R&B structure that somehow sounds classic. Jai Paul earned his hype because his music built its power from simple, timeless parts: economy, inventiveness, searing potential. Hype, the eternal double-edged sword, became his downfall, as a collection of unfinished tracks were leaked to Bandcamp in 2013, prompting a police investigation and the artist’s withdrawal into reclusion. If we’re assuming it wasn’t a shrewd publicity stunt (and this is the music industry, so it’s within the realm of possibility) it must have been crushing at the time, knowing you’re being represented by music that’s only part of what you believe it could be.

Well, eventually you listen to something over and over again and gets cemented into your brain, because six years later Paul’s finally decided to own the leak, perhaps in anticipation of another full-length release. Leak 04-13 (Bait Ones) retains the track listing invented by the enterprising leaker, only with an added touch of professional engineering, and years later its amazing how fresh its remained even in a genre that’s seen more of an evolution than any other this decade. Most of the tracks here are purposefully labeled “unfinished,” and there are tracks here that do feel a little incomplete, like the pleasant but relatively sparse “Vibin’” or the stand-alone coda that is “Baby Beat.” But one could generously look at what’s here and think any more touches would ruin the magic of how these parts come together; “Str8 Outta Mumbai” is a fantastic early highlight, a steady build up to a transcendent Hindi vocal solo, but compared to the rest of the album it feels a little overstuffed. “100,000” is a certified banger, boasting an incredibly addictive procedural lead keyboard line over a Dilla-like lagged beat, with glowing layered harmonies. “Crush’s” subwoofer-busting bass and choicely-placed guitar chords foretells the rise of Miguel, while “Chix’s” regrettably-short runtime houses a hell of a side-chained synth-kick base. The key overarching reference, however, is clearly Prince: his aural fingerprints are all over the uptempo, frizzy 80’s-funk freakout of “Genevieve” and the three-chord structure of “Zion Wolf Theme,” but Paul also operates under the same auteur-like mechanics, putting his stamp on nearly every sound in this collection. That attention to detail is most apparent on the best track here, XL-released single “jasmine (demo),” a song that’s still as impressive as it was back in 2012, an impeccably-crafted sultry slow-jam that pulses with heat and desire. Much has changed in R&B since Jai Paul entered the fray, but hopefully time away from the spotlight will reveal another batch of tracks as inspired and imaginative as these.

Highly recommended for the heart of the club, and for the heart.