Twentysomething

CD Details

On Twentysomething, Jamie celebrates jazz and retrofits standards to accommodate elements of the music he grew up with, from rock to rap to drum & bass. Just as gracefully, he recasts the works of contemporary luminaries like Radiohead and Jeff Buckley with a harmonic vocabulary he learned picking through old Gershwin tunes. But this young upstart has drawn raves as more than just an interpreter with a slate of originals, both by Jamie and his older brother, Ben, that draw upon, and reflect, the experiences of his own generation. It is Jamie’s forte as a writer – not just a singer and performer – of songs that has garnered his latest kudos, prompting MOJO magazine to note in its four-star review of twentysomething that “the ace up Cullum’s sleeve is the original writing,” as showcased on sophisticated pop gems like the wistful first single, “All At Sea” and the driving “twentysomething.”
The disc’s title tune sprang from having dinner and drinks with some old friends from university, all of whom seemed to be floundering with the same questions of how to weather their quarter-life crises. “When I woke up the next morning, I had this idea to write a song about people my age, twentysomethings, not knowing their place in the world, or where to go, and how education doesn’t really prepare them for that.” He took a string introduction he’d been working on for another song, sped up the tempo, and the melody for “twentysomething” was conceived.