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Paul Randolph presently lives in Detroit, but he has a truly international resume. Born in Philadelphia, raised in Sao Paolo, Brazil (where his father was a music producer) Randolph’s music is rich with influences which result in a stew of sound evocative, but not imitative, of a number of luminaries in the funk and soul genres some of whom (War, Mahogani) he has worked with.

Who? The most immediate comparison would be to Seal, given Randolph’s vocal delivery, which is low key, cool, and perfect in every way. Randolph’s vocals are hushed and never rushed, if you will, just right. This is particularly true on “Broken,” where Randolph’s vocals are in the front of the mix, right where they out to be, buoyed by a deceptively simple bassline, drums, and a couple of subdued keyboard riffs. What is impressive about Randolph’s vocals, however, is how easily and smoothly he can move from a soulful tune like “Claim,” which is almost like War-meets-Terrence Trent d’Arby, I swear. “Golden Day” could come out of the Lenny Kravitz songbook, except this sucker picks up where Kravitz usually leaves off. And let me be real clear, here…Randolph isn’t going down a list and copying a golden list of urban artists. His vocals are familiar yet unique enough that they nicely tie each track on LONELY EDEN together.

It’s tough to pick a favorite on here, but if you put a gun to my head it would have to be “Leanin’,” a sensuous mid-tempo funk groove that is PERFECT for summer, and, in an ideal world, would be on terrestrial Top 40 radio in heavy rotation by June 1. You won’t be able to get the chorus to this track out of your head with brillo, it’s that good. And if you’ve ever loved someone from afar (for any reason), you’ll love the cosmic yet firmly anchored groove of “Valentine.” Randolph can also get…out there…ala Funkadelic when he wants to, and he wants to on the off-kilter, damn near perfect title track to LONELY EDEN, where he takes a couple of horn samples under the verses and combines them with a chill chorus to produce a dynamite track, one that you’ll play over and over. Then there’s the percussion-driven “Eda Mae,” a fat slice of funk with a great sax break in the middle.

LONELY EDEN isn’t consistently a party project, but if you want a tour of soul music as it was and as it should be, with some jump woven into and around and through it, you should not be without this disc. Highly recommended.