Blake has quietly become one of the most important people in world music.
You have to go all the way back to 2009 to find James Blake’s earliest releases. He was second in BBC Radios Sound of 2011 list. Since then he has gone on to win a Grammy, an Ivor Novello and the Mercury Music Prize. The list of his collaborators is like a who’s who of the modern music scene. Jay Z, Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar, Travis Scott, Rosalia, Frank Ocean, Bon Iver and many, many more, most recently a collaborative album with Lil Yachty. He is most known for his high, falsetto style, singing voice and slightly ethereal music. It is best described as rap and soul adjacent, tapping into elements of these popular styles without ever fully embracing any one of them.
‘Death of Love’ is like Gorillaz at a funeral. ‘I had a Dream She Toot My Hand’ marries a soulful sample with a haunting, ghostly vocal. ‘Days Go By’ has a distinctive sample of Dizzy Rascal’s ‘I Luv U’ underpinning it. There are a couple of guest spots. Chicago singer-songwriter Monica Martin appears on ‘Didn’t Come To Argue.’ Having produced a chunk of Dave’s brilliant ‘The Boy Who Played The Harp’ and provided vocals on several tracks Dave returns the favour with a guest spot on ‘Doesn’t Just Happen.’ It proves to be a highlight of the album.
Essential Tracks: ‘Death Of Love,’ ‘I Had a Dream She Took My Hand,’ ‘Doesn’t Just Happen,’ ‘Days Go By’ and ‘Just A Little Higher.’
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