I guess an introduction is necessary. James Blake, 24, hails from London bringing with him his gospel-like voice and new age instrumentation. Widely viewed as a frontrunner of the Post-R&B/Post-Dubstep movement, Blake's experimentation of traditional rhythm and blues with a more electronic-oriented sound has certainly gained him positive attention and acclaim over the last few years. Rewinding back to 2011, his self-titled album debut gave us singles such as "The Wilhelm Scream" and one of 2010's best songs in "Limit to Your Love", yet most listeners could tell Blake was still finding his way in terms of a cohesive, unified sound. Skip forward to 2013 and we have a complete James Blake.
Admittedly, on first listen Overgrown was a little underwhelming. The album's first single "Retrograde", released back in February, already has my vote for song of the year and set the standard very high for Blake. The song's hauntingly beautiful tone and piano chords coupled with a subtle beating bass and Blake's melodious humming start the tune off. But as this song about love builds we here a master at work, as electronic organ synths rise while Blake's ghostly track persona delivers lines like "Ignore everybody else, we're alone now". The track has a way of separating yourself from everything that's going on around you, something only good music can accomplish.
With all that being said, I initially felt that there was "Retrograde" and then everything else on Overgrown until I watched the video below:
I was wrong, as the album's namesake serves as a fantastic opening for the album using gentle drums, combined with the crooning of Blake's voice, while sounding reassuring as the soft piano occasionally comes in and out of our awareness.
The key to listening to almost every song on this album is patience, because sometimes a track will feel as if it is meandering about in its first few seconds or even minutes. But like an experienced captain Blake will (eventually) get you to your final listening destination. Songs like "I am Sold" and "To the Last" follow similar patterns but are ultimately satisfying examples of why Blake's sound is so appealing.
Never straying too far from his dubstep origin, Blake provides us with "Digital Lion" (which is a frenetically paced song that only continues to get faster and better as the song progresses) and "Voyeur" which loops the lyrics "I don't mind, it was all me" throughout, and serves as Blake's metaphorical love letter to dance music and beat making. "Our Love Comes Back" is an excellent closing melody, that is once again taken over by Blake's peaceful humming and use of the piano as an understated synth hoots in the background. Even the bonus track "Every Day I Ran", sounds great (but almost completely different from the rest of the album) and is effectively Blake just showing off, demonstrating that he could give us Clams Casino-like instrumentals if he wanted to. The only track I suggest you stay away from is the overly forced "Take a Fall For Me", which includes two very random and off-beat RZA verses that just don't really fit with what the song is trying to do.
Overall Score: a hard 8.5
+ great experimentation, unified sound
+ use of piano coupled with electronic synths
- Songs may take a while to actually get started (stick with it)
- RZA's verses (chill out RZA)
No comments:
Post a Comment