Scheduled Release Date: 7th February 2011 ATLAS
James Blake has been low under the radar since a good half of 2009, where he debuted his 12" individual track "Air & Lack Thereof". Blake was noticed by BBC1 DJ Gilles Peterson, who praised his talents and asked him to do a special mix on his show. 2010 had a slow start to recognizing the addictive but quiet sounds of James Blake, with the release of him second record "CMYK" which did recieve alot of attention, thus starting the first true steps of the United Kingdom realizing just who this James Blake character was, and why he was causing such an explosion upon the electronic music scene. Enter 2011, The world finally saw James Blake's first official debut release self-entitled "James Blake".
The record begins with "Unluck", sharp clicks and scratches accompany the harmonics, but not as harsh as a record scratch. Then Jame's unique and soulful voice comes in, overflowing with vocal effects. The track suddenly jumps and the clicks are frequent, the harmonics create a small crescendo then fall back to the original harmony. This track isn't the best opener, but it still shows Jame's exceptional use of effects and electronics. The unfittingly titled "The Wilhelm Scream", which unfortunately doesn't contain the famous Wilhelm Scream, is a gorgeous soundscape of chilling vocals and shapes of soft noise floating around the gentle beat. The way Blake sings "I don't know about my love" compliments the drifting harmony beautifully, this track is definately one of the main highlights of the album.
"Lindesfarne I" is just James Blake's heavily reduced vocals, almost sounding robotic. The track flows into "Lindesfarne II" in which the electronic sounds join Jame's vocals, working into a slow and noiseless track, although the whole record is one to lie back and relax to, this is an exceptional piece to fall soundly asleep to.
The next track is the piano led "Limit To Your Love", featuring some of Blake's best executed vocals on the record. The track starts off with a repeated piano piece and vocals, then everything fades and a slow beat is introduced, in an almost dubstep like fashion, but this record is far from dubstep. Alot of people will have a problem with the same things happening constantly, and I have to agree to an extent, although the record is one to put on in the background, or to just unwind to, so I can't really see a problem with the repititiveness of this record, but that all changes with "To Care (Like You)". This track opens up with high pitched vocals over Jame's regular vocals. Then the beat comes in and the album reaches it's most dub-like part, not to say this is a bad thing. The beat is furious but soft at the same time, it's almost likea bird flapping it's wings, with overlapped "oh's" placed around the beat. The track seems like it shouldn't work, but it does, and it really does hit home with parts that seem to have derived from Four Tet's "There Is Love In You".
Upon first listen to "I Mind" I noticed it was the first proper upbeat track of the record, with it's fresh beats and vocal harmonies, the track does it's job in waking you up from your gentle journey into a cloud of soft electronic music, whereas the layered chorus of "Measurements" sends you right back in there with the softest landing.
"James Blake" is a record that is slow and transparent. The cover is true to it's image, as if you are moving slowly but everything is blurred. It will put you in a trance of warmth and tranquility, but whilst you are still wide awake and can suddenly feel that it is still music and not just the voice of your subconscience telling you to sleep and rest forever, although you really really want to.
9/10
Thomas Eccles
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