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James Blake obviously knows what he's doing as his full length debut is an all around good album, filled with memorable lines, a consistent dreary atmosphere, and a solid array of songwriting quirks. If this is your first exposure to Blake as it is for me, you can't help but to be immediately impressed by the guy. As opening track "Unluck" moves through its soulful croons and slow moving beat, it is apparent Blake is a proficient musician in all phases worth criticising. Yet when "Unluck" ends and another wonderfully solid track in "Wilhelm Scream" traps you in its tender aura, an unmistakable thought enters your mind: why isn't this blowing me away?
Perhaps it's in Blake's voice; his words resonate pain, no doubt, but a kind of reserved pain that's just itching to explode out of him and it never really does. It's the sort of vocal performance that is easy to identify but difficult to relate to. Singing with reservation has certainly worked before, but here I feel as though Blake's singing is a step behind what his emotions really are. Where he could have nearly cried at the mic, he restrains himself to the point of coming off sort of flat. This uninspiring performance creates an interesting contradiction to how his voice and backing electronica actually sound; Blake has an ear for atmosphere and tension, creating songs that almost act as soundscapes through shallow, dimly lit waters. He also uses negative space as an amplifier for things to come, such as "Lindesfarne 1" and its minimalist vocals just peeking out through the darkness that slide into the Bon Iver-esque "Lindesfarne 2", which is quiet but makes a statement.
Another slight problem heard throughout some of the record is how Blake's vocals seem to not fit with the songs themselves. To some this might seem a positive aspect - a jigsaw puzzle tilted on its side and blurry, simply adding to the effect of the album. Yet it can detract from how good of a songwriter Blake is; "I Never Learnt To Share" is arguably the album's strongest track, an anxious song brimming with life that explodes into utter euphoria until the end, but Blake's vocal melodies almost sound like they were added on after the track was finished as song melody and vocals feel like two seperate entities, neither feeding off each other.
Despite these nitpicky shortcomings, James Blake is one talented dude. It's easy to get thrown into James Blake and enjoy it, as it is simply good music, if you can see past some quirky bumps in the road that keep Blake from propelling this album into superb territory. Now, when's the new Burial coming out?
| other reviews of this album |
Deviant. STAFF (4.5)
This is James Blake, a man only loosely tethered to earth, now completely letting go....
Jeffort23 (4.5)
Amidst the deconstruction and uneasy silences are moments of clarity, where the fractured ...
jefflebowski (3.5)
Purest James Blake. Contains no added instrumentation or extraneous musical elements....
defjaw83 (5)
At the age of 21, James Blake may well have produced a career best, an album that will tak...
STOP SHOUTING! (3.5)
I don't blame them. I don't blame them. I don't blame them. I don't blame them. I don't bl...
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Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off
YES JAMES BLAKE IS THE FUCKING SHIT
| | | Album Rating: 3.0
agreed with this review
| | | Album Rating: 5.0
lol at the last line
| | | Album Rating: 5.0
Listening to his self titled now, good stuff.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
here I feel as though Blake's singing is a step behind what his emotions really are. Where he could have nearly cried at the mic, he restrains himself to the point of coming off sort of flat.
would the record really benefit from that kind of really obvious emotional approach? for me at least, the entire atmosphere is far too measured and controlled for it. the vocals do just enough; if he'd started bawling at the mic this would be awful.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
think you're relying too much on the vocals for some sort of catharsis
| | | Album Rating: 5.0 | Sound Off
Agree with Enotron, the lyrics and delivery aren't the main focus for me on this.
What gets me is the way in which the vocals are tweaked and distorted, revealing emotion that way rather than howling down the mic
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I get the feeling that you want some kind of emotional payout in the vocals, that you're bothered that there is no resolution by the album's end. I think his is a quiet dilemma, a sort of restrained cry for attention I guess. Anything more than that would just take away from the atmosphere
Also, what's up with that last line? What does Burial have to do with this?
| | | Album Rating: 5.0 | Sound Off
Guess it's because they're genre related. Totally different music though so I don't really get the comparison.
On a different note, this albums rules hard
| | | Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound Off
I can see where you're going with the vocals being a different entity from melody, but I don't think you choose the best example, in "I never learnt to share" that only works for the best methinks, this dissociation reflects perfectly the lyrics in that track. anyway w/e good review and neat final line, pos'd.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound Off
I completely disagree, because - and I've said this before - your only problem with the album happens to be one of the things I really love about the record. I think you're looking a little too hard for some sort of emotional catharsis when there isn't - and won't be - one.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5 | Sound Off
I get where you're coming from - this isn't really an emotionally affecting album, but I don't think it's fair to approach it as such. I kind of agree with Deviant, if his vocals weren't as hollow and indifferent it would taint the album's atmosphere and what Blake was going for in the first place.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
correct review. everybody else is just wrong.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
the miss match in vocals allows Blake to play with negative space as well as he does.
the album wouldn't be the same without.
review is solid though Chambered I understand where you're coming from, but tbh I think this is pretty amazing.
also this sounds like Burial so the comparison makes sense.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
great review describes my view of the album perfectly
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
^ this
I'd bold it more if I could.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
yeah but his voice just isn't good enough to carry some of the more sparse piano songs on the second half of the record. i get the whole restrained emotion thing, but i would buy it much more if he had a stronger voice.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
brought a tear to mah eye lewis :')
He lets the music speak for that.
been tryna say this!
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the last line could have been put on any semi-negative review i could have done i didn't mean for it to seem like a comparison even though this sounds loosely like the genre that burial rules over
Burial rules over nothing, he isn't the be all and end all of the genre, and his is by no means the only album(s) the genre ever produced, even though a lot of people on this site would think differently
also this sounds like Burial so the comparison makes sense.
Not at all
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nothing wrong with how the review is written imo, pos'd
i'll have to listen to this before i decide if i agree or not
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