James's recent foray into FM-friendly contemporary R&B has yielded mixed results and at times the more explicitly commercial slant of some of the material has done the quality of his voice no favours. This interpretation of the songbook of Bill Withers, one of the defining figures in soul, whose influence has been keenly felt beyond the genre, is a smart move insofar as it plays to James' strengths, namely the authoritative weight of his baritone, as well as the stealth of his phrasing. Studied elongations of lines and increases of volume bring the requisite nuance to his performance as the immense grandeur of themes such as ‘Ain't No Sunshine’, ‘Grandma's Hands’, ‘Use Me’ and ‘Hello Like Before’, shines through, aided by the attention to detail of a crack band. The result is music that captures the spirit of the original without a radical overhaul and provides the opportunity to relish Withers' superlative way with a lyric, whether dealing with pressing social issues or the eternal love triangle – “When I add the sum of you and me I get confused/And I keep coming up with three/You're too much for one man but not enough for two/Who is he and what is he to you?”.