British mastermind released his third studio album last year and as I am not quite sure whether I have already review it, I will do it again. I have rediscovered ot recently, and maybe you should as well. Here is why.
Over the course of recording The Colour in Anything, James collaborated with the likes of Bon Iver, Frank Ocean and Rick Rubin. The new record brings 17 songs altogether and none of them surprised me. Blake is one of those musicians who never leaves his comfort zone, obtainining his style as polished as it was on the debut. He is not conforming to the market, nor is he afraid that he is going to become tedious by presenting the same emotion over and over again. It might be the same emotion, but the storytelling is very different. So, let’s not call this iteration. Let’s call it perfectioning.
Blake is unique in his simplicity. I can’t believe she don’t wanna see me.
In 1974, Bill Withers sat alone on the scene, almost unaware of thousands of people in front of him, playing acoustic guitar and singing Hope She’ll Be Happier. He was 36, but ne just appeared on the music scene. Only three years before that he was in marine, then worked in a small company, and then one of the most popular soul singers. Hope She’ll be Happier is a song about loneliness, about awareness that you were a chapter in somebody’s life and acceptance of its epilogue. More than 40 years later, Blake opens his third album with the words from this classic I can’t believe that she don’t wanna see me. Performances can not be compared, but British talent succeeded in transmitting a cutting feeling of loneliness. Just as Whiters, Blake avoided any conventional music structure and relied on raw affection.
He keeps every song under utmost control, uniting them into a congruent whole. His vocal sounds more confident than ever, besides in number My Willing Neart in which Frank Ocean overpowers his whisper. Duet with Bon Iver I Need A Forest Fire turned out to be one of tne most popular songs on the record. Although Blake has tried to say a lot with little words, this is his longest release yet. I am sorry If I did not review it before, or did not put it on my Year End Chart, but this is, without a doubt, one of the most relevant records of the decade.
