Throughout the album, Blake repeats cryptic, often unintelligible lyrics. On James Blake, Blake’s voice shows up sampled, reanimated, and reconfigured-as it was on, say, the arresting “ I Only Know (What I Know Now),” from 2010’s Klavierwerke EP-but also, for the first time, unadorned, tender, and trembling. release date hasn’t yet been announced.) All 11 of its songs feature Blake’s high, delicately choked singing, which at times suggests Antony Hegarty, Arthur Russell, and, particularly in the context of Blake’s twitchy, catchy electronic beats, Thom Yorke.
stars tend to be-though he will be less unknown next week when James Blake comes out: An eerily pretty, quietly dazzling debut album that takes up residence somewhere between avant-garde dance music and blue-eyed soul. (The album will be available online and in the U.K. In America he’s much more of an unknown-as burgeoning U.K.
2 in the BBC’s Sound of 2011 poll, and his cover of Feist’s “ Limit to Your Love” has been added to the Radio One playlist.
