James Blake - Review

Two words that have been impossible to escape when listening to Radio 1 recently: James Blake. An unusual amount of mainstream hype has centred around this 22 year old Goldsmiths graduate – unusual only because it is only really of late that dubstep is properly making its way into the mainstream consciousness: almost daytime Radio. A classically trained musician, James’ first full-length release is justifiably set to go sky high. And quite right too.

With underground beginnings and success, James describes his debut self-titled album as a ‘natural progression’, and what a progression it is. Blake’s cover of Feist’s ‘Limit To Your Love’ received widespread popularity, his careful use of silence startlingly poignant, and so this album has had a lot of pressure on it to deliver, which it of course does.

If you’re expecting an album of ‘Limit To Your Love’s, it’s probably best that you alter your conceptions slightly. The single being by far the most refined, the album shudders and wriggles through, peaking in silence and dropping back into nothingness. Vocoders are rife, especially in the transcendently moving ‘Lindisfarne I’, and there’s a lot of carefully placed distortion keeping it grounded and original.

James’ elusively delicate vocals are inescapably sublime, and with his words hanging in the air, silence surrounds this entire record. Used effortlessly throughout, tracks finish and it’s impossible to tell whether the silence at the end is the transition between songs or there for effect – quite possibly, it is both, with the move between ‘Lindisfarne I’ and ‘Lindisfarne II’ almost unnoticeable. ‘I Never Learnt to Share’ consists simply of the line ‘my brother and sister don’t speak to me, but I don’t blame them’, sampled, mixed and vocoded, the track is a careful and irresistible glimpse of dubstep vulnerability.

The sheer scope of this album is overwhelming, and having listened to it both through speakers and headphones, it’s interesting to see quite how differently it can be appreciated. It all feels very personal through speakers, like a private show of emotion, and through headphones such intimacy is achieved, particularly through the mixing on next single ‘The Wilhelm Scream’, that it’s impossible not to give it the attention it commands and deserves.

This album makes me want to just sit and listen, something which I haven’t felt for a long time with an artist surrounded by so much of a buzz. This isn’t it for James, but considering that this is the debut album from a 22 year old producer, there’s a wonderful future waiting for him. Ineffable, awe-inspiring, spooky urban gospel for the bassline revolution.

By Rosie Macleod