I'm New Here

Music and lyrics

I'm New Here 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. Music writer Patrick Taylor notes of the album's style, "It's the ragged, warts-and-all approach of the blues versus the more refined jazz soul style he favored in the seventies". It also contains some musical elements of dubstep, electro, and ambient music. Greg Kot from the Chicago Tribune called it a "post-modern" blues album, while Rolling Stone magazine's Will Hermes 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". City Pages critic Rick Mason deemed the music "hard-edged post-industrial blues".

The album contains a sonically dark and gritty soundscape characterized by low-tone synths and spatial 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. Crawdaddy!'s David MacFadden-Elliott wrote that Richard Russell's production finds "deep electronic grooves that still contain hints of soul and gospel music", 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".

I'm New Here features introspective, confessional lyrics expressing themes of regret, reconciliation, and redemption, 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". The Skinny's Bram Gieben perceived "flashes of Burroughs-like darkness, the wry humour of post-addiction Richard Pryor" in Scott-Heron's performance. Although Scott-Heron's lyrics concerning his bleak life experiences are understated and reflective, they express pride, dignity, defiance, and unapologetic confession. According to Robert Ferguson of Drowned in Sound, 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".

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. Simon Price of The Independent described his voice on the album as "bourbon-soaked".

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). It is a tribute to the women in his family, particularly Scott-Heron's grandmother Lily Scott, with whom he was sent to live 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). 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, represented as a metaphorical vulture, that inhabit and destroy African-American ghettos. The "vulture" also represents death from Scott-Heron's point of view, who concludes the song with the theme of defiance.

Release and reception

I'm New Here was released February 8, 2010 in the United Kingdom and February 9, 2010 in the United States on XL Recordings. It debuted at number 181 on the US Billboard 200 chart with first week sales of 3,700 copies. It also entered at number 28 on Billboard's Top Independent Albums, at number 6 on its Top Jazz Albums, and at number 38 on its Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. The album also entered at number 35 in Ireland and at number 39 in the United Kingdom. It also debuted at number six on the UK R&B Chart. It spent two to three weeks on most international charts. The album's lead single, "Me and the Devil", was released on February 22, 2010 as a 7" and music download. It did not chart as a single on the Billboard charts.

On September 26, 2010, British director Chris Cunningham premiered the 10-minute film New York Is Killing Me at the Museum of Modern Art, projected on three screens side by side. Chris Cunningham is credited with guitar and overdubs on the song on the album, and for this "audio-visual remix" he replaced 90% of Scott-Heron's musical track with train sounds and environmental recordings to create a "musique concrète" version of the original composition.

I'm New Here received generally positive reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 78, based on 28 reviews. Jesse Cataldo from Slant Magazine called it "post-structural, indefinably plotted" and "masterfully stark", while Dan Cairns of The Sunday Times called it "an extraordinarily powerful album" featuring "superb Scott-Heron originals". AllMusic's Thom Jurek commented that it "contains the artful immediacy that distinguishes Scott-Heron’s best art". Siddharta Mitter of The Boston Globe said Russell's "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". The Daily Telegraph's Neil McCormick found the lyrics to be of "depth, wisdom and experience", delivered in "a voice rich with musicality, all set in a sonic context that locates him in the present moment". Rupert Howe of Q said Russell's arrangements "brilliantly frame [Scott-Heron]'s rich burr and terse street poetry with brooding electronica and stark blues handclaps". The Village Voice's Stacey Anderson wrote that "it's more emotional, more optimistic, than his past political provocations, and he hasn't sounded this lively in ages". Chicago Sun-Times writer Jim DeRogatis was less impressed, deeming the album's sound "alien and unsuccessful" while describing Scott-Heron's performance as "bland philosophizing and surprisingly hollow personal reflections". Will Layman from PopMatters said it was "a thin affair—musically weak and lyrically narrow" while finding its material "unimaginative".

Track listing

Personnel

Credits for I'm New Here adapted from liner notes.