I'm New Here is the thirteenth studio album by American soul artist Gil Scott-Heron, released February 8, 2010 on XL Recordings. It is Scott-Heron's first album of original material in sixteen years, following a period of personal and legal troubles with drug addiction. Recording sessions for the album took place during 2007 to 2009 and production was handled by XL Recordings-owner Richard Russell. Primarily a blues and spoken-word album, I'm New Here serves as musical and lyrical departure from Scott-Heron's previous work.

The album debuted at number 181 on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 3,700 copies in its first week. It has spawned one single, "Me and the Devil", an adaptation of blues musician Robert Johnson's "Me and the Devil Blues" (1937). Upon its release, I'm New Here received generally positive reviews from most music critics.

Music

Musical style

The album is a departure from the rhythmic, jazz-funk and soul style of Scott-Heron's previous work, and embraces an acoustic and electronic minimal sound. Musically, I'm New Here incorporates blues, folk, trip hop, and electronica styles.Taylor, Patrick. . RapReviews. Retrieved on 2010-02-25.Bairds, Emrys. . Blues & Soul. Retrieved on 2010-02-25. It also contains some musical elements of dubstep, electro, and ambient music. Some music writers viewed it as a "post-modern" blues album.Gibson, Luke. . HipHopDX. Retrieved on 2010-02-25. It contains a sonically dark and gritty soundscape characterized by low-tone synths and spacial beats. Due to its sparse sound and minimalist production, music writers have compared it to singer-songwriter Johnny Cash's American Recordings albums with producer Rick Rubin.Dietz, Jason. . Metacritic. Retrieved on 2010-04-22. Crawdaddy!s David MacFadden-Elliott wrote that Richard Russell's production finds "deep electronic grooves that still contain hints of soul and gospel music",MacFadden-Elliot, David. . Crawdaddy!. Retrieved on 2010-02-19. while critic Neil McCormick noted that the album's musical setting produced by Russell "blends dubby beats with spoken word and raw, confessional blues", describing the musical fusion as "like Massive Attack jamming with Robert Johnson and Allen Ginsberg". Scott-Heron's baritone vocals on the album stylistically range from spoken word to blues-oriented crooning. Music writers have noted that Scott-Heron's vocal ability has changed, perceiving it as rougher, slurred, and aged. Music journalist Simon Price described his voice on the album as "bourbon-soaked".Price, Simon. . The Independent. Retrieved on 2010-02-14.

Lyrically, I'm New Here features introspective, confessional lyrics expressing themes of regret, reconciliation, and redemption,Shellz. . Planet Ill. Retrieved on 2010-02-11.Dacks, David. . Exclaim!. Retrieved on 2010-02-19. which deviate from his earlier music's agitprop lyrics and social, political themes. On Scott-Heron's thematic departure, critic Paul Trynka wrote "The man who depicted Winter in America is now in his own autumn; a season replete with both beauty and sadness". While Scott-Heron's lyrics concerning his bleak life experiences are understated and reflective, they also express pride, dignity, defiance, and unapologetic confession.Haider, Arwa. . Metro. Retrieved on 2010-02-14. According to music writer Robert Ferguson, Scott-Heron expresses "confession, but no apology" to "pick over the bones of his life, acknowledging the hard times and his own mistakes, but standing proud of all they have led him to become".

Content

The album's bookending and two-part poem "On Coming from a Broken Home" features piano and a sampled string loop from Kanye West's "Flashing Lights" (2007).Molner, Chris. . Cokemachineglow. Retrieved on 2010-02-14. It is a tribute to the women in his family, particularly Scott-Heron's grandmother Lily Scott, with whom he was sent to live with as a child in Tennessee. The song reflects on his upbringing around strong female figures and challenges the sociological perception of a broken home: "Womenfolk raised me, and I was full-grown before knew I came from a broken home". It defends Scott-Heron's upbringing and arguing that his grandmother's love and devotion taught him passionate humanity, despite lacking of a positive male figure. According to music writers, "On Coming from a Broken Home" introduces and concludes the album's prominent theme of unapologetic confession. "Your Soul and Mine" adapts lyrics from Scott-Heron's spoken word piece "The Vulture", originally featured on Small Talk at 125th and Lenox (1970).Columnist. . Impose Magazine. Retrieved on 2010-02-14. It contains a dubstep-styled collage of effects over a cello loop similar to the style of Burial and Massive Attack. The song's blank verse recitation discusses the evils that inhabit and destroy the ghetto, which are portrayed as a metaphorical vulture. The "vulture" also represents death from Scott-Heron's point of view, who concludes the song with the theme of defiance: "So if you see the vulture coming/Flying circles in your mind/Remember there is no escaping/For he will follow close behind/Only promise me a battle/For your soul, and mine".

Reception

Commercial performance

I'm New Here was released February 8, 2010 in the United Kingdom and February 9, 2010 in the United States on XL Recordings.Briehan, Tom. . Pitchfork Media. Retrieved on 2010-02-14. It debuted at number 181 on the US Billboard 200 chart with first week sales of 3,700 copies.Jacobs, Allen. . HipHopDX. Retrieved on 2010-02-19. It also entered at number 28 on Billboards Top Independent Albums,. Billboard. Retrieved on 2010-02-19. at number 6 on its Top Jazz Albums,. Billboard. Retrieved on 2010-02-19. and at number 38 on its Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.. Billboard. Retrieved on 2010-02-19. The album also entered at number 35 in Ireland and at number 39 in the United Kingdom.. IRMA. Retrieved on 2010-02-20.. The Official UK Charts Company. Retrieved on 2010-02-20. It also debuted at number six on the UK R&B Chart.. The Official UK Charts Company. Retrieved on 2010-04-22. It spent two to three weeks on most international charts.. acharts. Retrieved on 2010-04-02. The album's lead single, "Me and the Devil", was released on February 22, 2010 as a 7" and music download.Hughes, Rich. . The Line Of Best Fit. Retrieved on 2010-02-14. It did not chart as a single on the Billboard charts.. Billboard. Retrieved on 2010-04-02.

Critical response

Upon its release, I'm New Here received generally positive reviews from most music critics, based on an aggregate score of 78/100 from Metacritic.. Metacritic. Retrieved on 2010-02-10. Allmusic writer Thom Jurek gave it 4 out of 5 stars and wrote that it "contains the artful immediacy that distinguishes Scott-Heron’s best art". Siddharta Mitter of The Boston Globe praised Richard Russell's production and wrote "the swirling miasma of sound wholly suits Scott-Heron’s mood, which is angry yet humble, and even more his voice, which is rich and intent as ever".Mitter, Siddharta. . The Boston Globe. Retrieved on 2010-02-10. Drowned in Sound writer Robert Ferguson gave I'm New Here a 9/10 rating and called it "a seriously good record".Ferguson, Robert. . Drowned in Sound. Retrieved on 2010-02-10. The Washington Posts Jesse Serwer called it a "invigorating yet draining listening experience" and commended Scott-Heron for his "wizened poetry". Despite perceiving its brevity as a weakness, MusicOMH's Darren Lee lauded Russell's minimalist production and praised Scott-Heron's lyrics, calling the album "a remarkably honest and self-reflective collection".Lee, Darren. . MusicOMH. Retrieved on 2010-02-10. Delusions of Adequacy's Bryan Sanchez called it "an outstanding album and one of beauty and substance".Sanchez, Bryan. . Delusions of Adequacy. Retrieved on 2010-02-11. Time Outs Areif Sless-Kitain gave it 4 out of 5 stars and commended Scott-Heron's reflective themes.Sless-Kitain, Areif. . Time Out. Retrieved on 2010-02-11. The Observer, The Guardian, and The Daily Telegraph gave the album 4 out of 5 stars and praised Scott-Heron's performance on the album. The latter publication's Neil McCormick lauded Scott-Heron's lyrical transition and described it as "everything you might want from an older artist: lyrics of depth, wisdom and experience, a voice rich with musicality, all set in a sonic context that locates him in the present moment".McCormick, Neil. . The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved on 2010-02-11. Evening Standard writer Pete Clark gave it 4 out of 4 stars and praised Russell's production, stating "Russell deserves credit for setting Scott-Heron's voice in such a sympathetic soundscape, a world of telling beats and subtle echoes".Clark, Pete. . Evening Standard. Retrieved on 2010-02-11. Giving it 4 out of 5 stars, Qs Rupert Howe wrote that Russell's arrangements "brilliantly frame 's rich burr and terse street poetry with brooding electronica and stark blues handclaps",Howe, Rupert. "". Q: 119. March 2010. and Mojos Paul Trynka commended the album's "stark grandeur".Trynka, Paul. "". Mojo: 97. March 2010. Hot Press writer Paul Nolan gave it a 4/5 rating and wrote that it "is very much worth the 16-year wait".Nolan, Paul. . Hot Press. Retrieved on 2010-02-19. In his consumer guide for MSN Music, critic Robert Christgau gave I'm New Here an honorable mention () rating,Christgau, Robert. "". MSN Music: April 2010. Archived from on 2010-04-18. indicating a "likable effort consumers attuned to its overriding aesthetic or individual vision may well enjoy".Christgau, Robert. . Robert Christgau. Retrieved on 2009-03-30.

However, Chicago Sun-Times critic Jim DeRogatis gave it 1½ out of 4 stars and described Scott-Heron's performance as "bland philosophizing and surprisingly hollow personal reflections", while its calling its sound "alien and unsuccessful".DeRogatis, Jim. . Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved on 2010-02-23. In a generally negative review, PopMatters writer Will Layman gave I'm New Here a 3/10 rating and called it "a thin affair—musically weak and lyrically narrow", perceiving its material as "unimaginative" and panning its musical structure. Giving it 2 out of 4 stars, Chicago Tribune writer Greg Kot described it as a "postmodern blues album as conceived sometime between closing time and sunrise, a dark-night-of-the-soul lament in which the artist tosses and turns while mumbling and slurring his words", but viewed its minimal production and concise composition as faults.Kot, Greg. . Chicago Tribune. Retrieved on 2010-02-25. In contrast, Slant Magazine's Jesse Cataldo wrote favorably of the album's unconventional structure and called it "post-structural, indefinably plotted" and "masterfully stark". Rolling Stone critic Will Hermes gave it 3 out of 5 stars and described it as "a steely blues record at heart — the sound of a damaged man staring in the mirror without self-pity but not without hope". While perceiving its brevity and "fragmented nature" as weaknesses, Uncuts John Lewis gave the album 4 out of 5 stars and called it "a brave, brilliant and highly personal statement".Lewis, John. . Uncut. Retrieved on 2010-02-11. Nick Neyland of BBC Online called it "an unlikely but triumphant return" and lauded Scott-Heron's cover songs, writing that he "has an intuitive way of grasping work written by others and skewing it to fit his own austere worldview".Neyland, Nick. . BBC Online. Retrieved on 2010-02-11. Boston Phoenix writer Mikael Wood gave it 3 out of 4 stars and wrote favorably its confessional themes and production, stating "Drug trouble, family strife, too many years spent behind bars: Scott-Heron is unsparing in his confessions, as producer Richard Russell fashions a kind of creaky industrial folk music".Wood, Mikael. . Boston Phoenix. Retrieved on 2010-02-23. Andy Beta of Spin gave it 3½ out of 5 stars and wrote that it "isn't so much a comeback as a testament to spiritual resilience".Beta, Andy. . Spin. Retrieved on 2010-02-10.

Giving it a 9/10 rating, NMEs John Doran called Scott-Heron a "copper-bottomed genius" and viewed its sparse beats as "in keeping with the apocalyptic blues contained within". The Village Voices Stacey Anderson wrote favorably of Scott-Heron's thematic departure from his previous work, stating "it's more emotional, more optimistic, than his past political provocations, and he hasn't sounded this lively in ages".Anderson, Stacey. . The Village Voice. Retrieved on 2010-02-11. Chris Molner of Cokemachineglow gave it an 82% rating and perceived Scott-Heron's confessional lyrics as complimentary to his aged voice, stating "Scott-Heron's age-thickened voice and simple lyrics, stripped of the didacticisms of early, well-known songs like 'Angel Dust' or 'The Bottle', are more charismatic than ever. His new turn towards humility and away from the production that once characterized him makes his voice all the more immediate; instead of bemoaning the ghetto’s reliance on the bottle, he speaks with a voice gone raspy from alcohol". Jason P. Woodbury of Tiny Mix Tapes gave it 4 out of 5 stars and praised Scott-Heron's thematic departure, stating "It’s the sound of a proud man swallowing his pride while preserving his dignity, of a wise man sharing instead of lecturing, doing so with bleak humor, pathos, and dark charm".Woodbury, Jason P. . Tiny Mix Tapes. Retrieved on 2010-02-11. The Sunday Times writer Dan Cairns called it "an extraordinarily powerful album" with "unsparing autobiographical interludes, set to ghostly electro ambience and doomy bass, frame covers ... and superb Scott-Heron originals".Cairns, Dan. . The Sunday Times. Retrieved on 2010-02-23. The Skinnys Bram Gieben perceived "flashes of Burroughs-like darkness, the wry humour of post-addiction Richard Pryor" in Scott-Heron's performance and called the album "clever, searingly confessional, effortlessly modern but also managing to echo with nearly every single iteration of roots music from dub to techno to hip-hop".Gieben, Bram. . The Skinny. Retrieved on 2010-02-20. Billboard writer Connor McKnight commended Scott-Heron's "dark candor" on the album and its themes, writing "Reflective but never bitter, I'm New Here contains the musings of a poet wizened by hard luck".McKnight, Connor. . Billboard. Retrieved on 2010-04-18. Pitchfork Media's Nate Patrin gave I'm New Here an 8.5/10 rating and commended Scott-Heron for the confessional, personal nature of his themes. Andy Gill of The Independent shared a similar sentiment and praised Scott-Heron's reflective themes concerning his personal issues, stating "As with the man, so with this album: it might fall short in some regards, but such is the heart and the mind involved that what little is left should be treasured accordingly".

Personnel

Credits for I'm New Here adapted from liner notes.Track listing and credits as per liner notes for I'm New Here album

* Damon Albarn – keyboards

* Mike Block – strings

* Chris Cunningham – guitar, synthesizer

* Tiona Hall – backing vocals

* Michelle Hutcherson – backing vocals

* Kim Jordan – backing vocals, piano

* Phil Lee – artwork

* Christiana Liberis – strings

* Rodaidh McDonald – additional recording and mixing

* Ichiho Nishiki – engineer

* Mischa Richter – artwork

* Richard Russell – producer, cover photo

* Gil Scott-Heron – piano, vocals

* Tyria Stokes – backing vocals

* Mary Jo Stilp – strings

* Pat Sullivan – guitar

* Una Tone – strings

* Lawson White – engineer, string arrangements

Chart history

References

Artist/Band Information

Gil Scott-Heron (born April 1, 1949) is an American poet, musician, and author known primarily for his late 1970s and early 1980s work as a spoken word performer and his collaborative soul works with musician Brian Jackson. His collaborative efforts with Jackson featured a musical fusion of jazz, blues and soul music, as well as lyrical content concerning social and political issues of the time, delivered in both rapping and melismatic vocal styles by Scott-Heron. The music of these albums, most notably Pieces of a Man and Winter in America in the early 1970s, influenced and helped engender later African-American music genres such as hip hop and neo soul. Scott-Heron's recording work is often associated with black militant activism and has received much critical acclaim for one of his most well-known compositions "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised". On his influence, Allmusic wrote "Scott-Heron's unique proto-rap style influenced a generation of hip-hop artists".

Early years

Gil Scott-Heron was born in Chicago, Illinois, but spent his early childhood in Jackson, Tennessee, the home of his maternal grandmother Lillie Scott. Gil's mother, Bobbie Scott-Heron, sang with the New York Oratorial Society. Scott-Heron's father, Giles "Gil" Heron of Jamaican descent, nicknamed "The Black Arrow", was a football (soccer) player who, in the 1950s, became the first black athlete to play for Glasgow's Celtic Football Club. Gil's parents divorced when he was young and Gil was sent to live with his Grandmother Lillie Scott.Dacks, David at Exclaim! March 2010. When Scott-Heron was 13 years old, his grandmother died and he moved with his mother to the Bronx in New York City, where he enrolled in DeWitt Clinton High School. He later transferred to The Fieldston School after one of his teachers, a Fieldston graduate, showed one of his writings to the head of the English department at Fieldston and he was granted a full scholarship.

Scott-Heron attended Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, as it was the college chosen by his biggest influence Langston Hughes. It was here that Scott-Heron met Brian Jackson with whom he formed the band Black & Blues. After about two years at Lincoln, Scott-Heron took a year off to write the novels The Vulture and The Nigger Factory. He returned to New York City, settling in Chelsea, Manhattan, which was a multiracial and multicultural neighborhood. The Vulture was published in 1970 and well received. Although Scott-Heron never received his undergraduate degree, he has a Masters degree in Creative Writing from Johns Hopkins University.

Recording career

Scott-Heron began his recording career in 1970 with the LP Small Talk at 125th and Lenox. Bob Thiele of Flying Dutchman Records produced the album, and Scott-Heron was accompanied by Eddie Knowles and Charlie Saunders on conga and David Barnes on percussion and vocals. The album's 15 tracks dealt with themes such as the superficiality of television and mass consumerism, the hypocrisy of some would-be Black revolutionaries, white middle-class ignorance of the difficulties faced by inner-city residents, and homophobia. In the liner notes, Scott-Heron acknowledged as influences Richie Havens, John Coltrane, Otis Redding, Jose Feliciano, Billie Holiday, Langston Hughes, Malcolm X, Huey Newton, Nina Simone, and the pianist who would become his long-time collaborator, Brian Jackson.

Scott-Heron's 1971 album Pieces of a Man used more conventional song structures than the loose, spoken-word feel of Small Talk. He was joined by Johnny Pate (conductor), Brian Jackson on keyboards, piano, Ron Carter on bass and bass guitar, drummer Bernard "Pretty" Purdie, Burt Jones playing electric guitar, and Hubert Laws on flute and saxophone, with Thiele producing again. Scott-Heron's third album, Free Will, was released in 1972. Jackson, Purdie, Laws, Knowles, and Saunders all returned to play on Free Will and were joined by Jerry Jemmott playing bass, David Spinozza on guitar, and Horace Ott (arranger and conductor).

1974 saw another LP collaboration with Brian Jackson, the critically acclaimed opus Winter in America, with Bob Adams on drums and Danny Bowens on bass. The album contained Scott-Heron's most cohesive material and featured more of Jackson's creative input than his previous albums had. Winter in America has been regarded by many critics as the two musicians most artistic effort.