The evolution of Jamie Lidell from experimental electronic composer to born-again soul crooner has been one of the year’s more audacious musical reinventions. The 35-year-old is being hailed as a kind of cool Jamiroquai, or even the British Prince, on the strength of his new album, Jim. Released this week, the album certainly sounds like Lidell’s most commercial offering so far, although he remains signed to the left-field techno label Warp.

Given his eclectic portfolio, Lidell’s definition of soul music seems oddly conservative. For most of his London show on Tuesday, the clean-cut, bespoke-suited singer and his band confined themselves to pastiches of the eye-popping, brow-mopping, horn-driven R&B sound popularised by the Stax and Atlantic labels during the 1960s. A generic brand of wedding-party soul, in other words, already played by thousands of sub-Commitments pub bands.

Opening with the gospel-style testifying of Another Day, Lidell then slipped into smoother, Al Green mode with Green Light. His face was a riot of overheated emotions, but the whole exercise still felt like stilted role-playing. It’s a dispiriting thought, but you suspect that Simon Cowell would have enjoyed this performance.

In fairness, Lidell proved more impressive when he stepped back from stylised mimicry and began blurring the boundaries between his different musical personalities. A marathon mid-set number began as a straight live track before the singer sidled over to his assembled computers, turned the beat into a techno pulse, then sampled and looped his own vocals over the top.

Meanwhile, his band disappeared backstage, leaving Lidell to host his own mini-rave. After ten minutes of undulating beats and processed yelps, the musicians returned. Clever stuff. But also, crucially, a crowd-pleasing party trick.

After this tour de force, Lidell’s cabaret shtick felt a little warmer. Little Bit of Feel Good shook the venue like a funk-rock locomotive, while the spine-tingling ballad All I Wanna Do was just a shade away from Sam Cooke’s unassailable A Change is Gonna Come.

This was, in the end, a highly entertaining show. By the grand finale, Lidell had won over any remaining doubters with sheer chutzpah. With a few more real emotions, he might even cut it as a genuine soul singer.

Tour continues at Manchester University April 1 2008; Friday 2 2008, Clockwork, Bristol

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