Shawn Lee

Shawn Lee Presents Soul in the Hole
(Ubiquity Records)

So you might have never heard of Shawn Lee, and it would appear he’s one of those come-out-of-nowhere stories, but that’s not the case. The Wichita, Kansas born Lee moved to Los Angeles 20 years, at around the right time to hook up with burgeoning talents like late singer/songwtriter Jeff Buckley and producers the Dust Brothers while bouncing around from label deals and session work gigs.

Now based in London, Lee has become an industry vet and survivor with his canny ability to mix styles and projects. You are as likely to find Lee remixing artists as disparate as DJ duo Thievery Corporation and swampy blues genius Tony Joe White as you are to hear his compositions for video game soundtracks like Rock Star Games’ Bully. Even if you knew all this about Shawn Lee, his latest record would still be something of a sweet surprise. Soul in the Hole—much like Raphael Saadiq’s 2008 burner The Way I See It— is a no-gimmick soul record, unless you consider making a kaleidoscopic soul pastiche shifting from 1960s and 1970s grooves with a rotating cast of singers a gimmick. Lee watches over the proceedings, writing, producing, and playing many of the instruments across a record loaded front to back with nuggets that sound direct from an AM radio 30 or 40 years ago, and certainly not pouring from your MP3-playing speakers in 2009. Lee’s spry, gritty, and cool vocals are featured throughout Soul—including his lead on the title track—but he spreads singing duties out among a wide cast of slightly obscure but unquestionably able folk. “Whatever Side You’re On” dips into Steely Dan territory with help from Paul Butler of favored UK funk and garage explorers the Bees. Lee reintroduces the world to long-lost soul survivor Darondo on the funky stomper “Stay Away From Me” and the smoothly laidback “Playboy Bunny.”

This is real-deal soul music; you just might have to convince even your most sophisticated music fan friends that this is not some rare reissue collection from the past. Put this one on the hi-fi and just chill. For more info go to www.shawnlee.net.

—donny kutzbach