Elsewhere, such as the painfully brief piano and voice interlude “Give Me My Voice,” his unwavering sincerity gives Antony a run for his money. His Feist cover “Limit to Your Love,” which made the Internet rounds last year (and is thankfully included here), showcases his voice at its velvety best-easily outstripping the original. Vocally, Blake clearly has nothing to hide.
The problem is, Blake has put himself in a tight box, and when he strays out of it the material wavers, swinging between the impressive disconnect of the chanted chorus and overwhelming instrumentals of “I Never Lernt to Share,” or overall staleness of “Lindisfarne 1,” (which could have been merged into the far superior part 2).Īnd then there’s the vocoder-a production choice that-even on the best tracks-throws major barriers between the album being a potential classic and mere curiosity.
A slowly building chorus of voice and synths saves “Unluck” from becoming mere background music, while “Measurements” gloriously calls to mind any number of spirituals updated for the digital era. “Why Don’t You Call Me” could have been a torch song in any genre, for any performer, male or female. The beats are there-often Dntel-like in their glitchy un-adornment-but it’s really Blake’s ability to force them into traditional structure that makes this project so interesting. However, the odd assemblage works thanks to Blake’s ability to recognize a hook, leaving him as a go-to guy for gestalt-even if the ghost of Jamie Lidell’s back catalogue hangs heavy over the proceedings.ĭespite talk of his status as “post-dub step,” at heart Blake is a soul man. It’s an oddball gathering of elements that one imagines could have been developed any singer/songwriter desperate to elevate his work past the bar and into the limelight. Soulful vocals-more Motown than anytown-are flattened with (shutter) vocoder, and stirred into minimalist beats. When broken down, there’s nothing terribly unique about the building blocks of James Blake’s eponymous debut.
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