Big Data – “Clean” (Feat. Jamie Lidell) (Stereogum Premiere)
Producer Alan Wilkis has enlisted countless vocalists to contribute to his next Big Data album, 2.0, and the first track “Snowed In” featured Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo. “Clean” is the follow-up, and this time Wilkis eschews indie-rock altogether, instead enlisting English electro-crooner Jamie Lidell. The Nashville-by-way-of-England singer rose to prominence for warping his powerhouse voice with effects, moving from classic soul-pop to robotic weirdness in the span of a few seconds, and there’s plenty of that vocal schizophrenia here. Big, bright synthesizers, bulging bass lines and syncopated beats move this closer to early Maroon 5 territory than either artist’s typical output, but “Clean” is burbling, spacious synth-pop guaranteed to help you shed your former self for something more pristine. After the winter we’ve had, I’m ready to molt right along with Lidell. Listen below.
As before, there Wilkis incorporated the idea of data and HTML into a lyric video for the song.
2.0 will be out 3/24 via Warner Bros. Pre-order it here.