James Blake – CMYK
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You know there’s hype around a certain artists, when every single reviewer, journalist, blogger, or casual tweeter acknowledges the very fact that he’s only adding to the hype circus. Well, I’m no better. And I don’t feel bad about it. At least it seems that James Blake is relatively unaffected by the expectations we tend to hang on him. As we demand more and Radio 1 (and even NME) begins to pay attention, Blake seems largely indifferent and remains focused on his desire to make his music.
Blake’s Bells Sketch EP on Hessle Audio provided a heartbreaking mix of anthem ambitions and fragile vocals packed into three compositions. CMYK gives you one more, and an amplitude that’s a lot more subdued. Nothing reaches the same heights as The Bells Sketch and Blake seems to create denser and more focused mixes this time.
For an EP mainly made up of r’n'b samples, CMYK conveys a surprisingly wide range of emotions. Although you may recognize a snippet of two from your favourite noughties guilty pleasure, you are instantly surprised by the vastly different context it is presented in. And it’s not just the context that’s different. Blake also plays around with the structure of these tracks, and just when you’re expecting a welcome relief, Footnotes returns to a basic structure, and Postpone dissolves in distant moans.
As Pitchfork points out, James Blake samples from an era that hasn’t really found its place in our musical history yet. Perhaps that’s why this EP stands out as completely it’s own, deeply original, and truly emotional at the same time. If you can trust James Blake with your polished teenage Timbaland-produced artefacts, he’ll squeeze out emotions you never thought they contained and make you think twice about where music is heading in 2010.
Graphic high five via Behance
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
<3 James
Parts of this would definitely be nice in a soundtrack for a sci-fi or drama.