First off, I’m going to have to get this off my chest: I was extremely skeptical of James Blake going into this review. There’s a huge amount of hype surrounding this album because of the attention his EPs (The Bells Sketch, CMYK, Klavierwerke) received in 2010. I am glad to say he meets the hype.
As a music listener, it’s important for me to have a vast collection that can fit any mood. Unfortunately (or fortunately?), I lack albums that I can listen to when I’m depressed or just need some quiet time to think. Enter James Blake. If you’ve ever wanted to just escape your life and take some time to figure out your problems, turn on this album.
Ironically, the best thing Blake uses to invigorate his sound is dead air. Almost every track contains a pause for effect which makes Blake truly unique. For instance on the track “Lindesfarne I”, the whole song is solely Blake’s auto-tuned voice. You did just read auto-tune, but this is one of those rare instances where auto-tune is used well (for a bad example, see Bon Iver’s parts on Kanye West’s last album…). Combined with Blake’s passionate, gospel-like vocals, silence truly is golden on this album. There’s never a spot on the album that feels empty despite it quiet emphasis.
Another thing that James Blake does exceedingly well is the use of loop machines. I’m fairly sure he made the whole album by himself, so this instrument allowed him to take his voice, and along with some pitch tweaks, create the allusion of an entire choir. Any aspiring artists out there who don’t have backing bands should really learn something form James Blake. The closing track on the album “Measurements” takes full advantage of the loop machine. With only a bass synth supporting, the James Blake choir takes center stage on one of the album’s best and most moving tracks.
The only things that bothers me about James Blake is that when first described to me, some one said he was dubstep. While there are a lot of dubstep influences and instances (“Limit to Your Love”, “I Never Learnt to Share”), James Blake should NOT be billed as a dubstep artist. I think he should be given the Primus treatment and given his own genre. The second thing about this album is that it borders on boring at times. It never crosses the line, but there’s a stretch of three songs after the Feist cover “Limit to Your Love” that don’t build off of the momentum brought on by the first half of the album.
All in all, James Blake is surely a contender for album of the year despite it’s early release. Think of it like Vampire Weekend’s Contra or Beach House’s Teen Dream: even though it came out in the first 3 months of 2011, give it some respect. James Blake is a truly unique artist that will for sure have a huge year. Tickets have sold out in minutes (like the Chicago date… don’t worry I have mine!), and rightfully so. This guy is the real deal and I expect great things in the future.
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