I thought it only fitting to hand my next "Artist Appreciation" post over to the worthy Mercury Prize winner, James Blake. I have to say, although I was a little shocked that he won, going up against the likes of albums such as AM, Sing To The Moon and Holy Fire. However, after a short think, I'm actually really glad that he won. James is an extraordinary musician, and his work is not too often recognised in the charts, so for him to win this gives me hope for the future of mainstream music.
James released his self -titled debut in 2011, reaching 9 in the UK album charts. The first song I heard from this record (and actually from anything of his) was "Limit To Your Love" and the first things that I remember thinking were "this sounds so familiar" and also "this feels like it's going on longer than it's supposed to". I later found out that this song is a cover of Feist's original (hence, the familiarity) and after seeing James perform this live earlier this year I definitely appreciate the brilliance of this track a lot more. Despite its' minimalism it manages to strike such a chord when played live. It takes immense talent for a man to stay seated for an entire hour long set and still have the audience in the palm of his hand.
Artist Appreciation: James Blake
After this great debut release, James put out Overgrown earlier this year and my, what a gem! It's as if he just stopped caring about all the little do's and don'ts and because of this, every track on this record felt like it was galvanised. It took a while I must admit, but this album blew my mind. And what's funny is, prior to it's release I wasn't actually expecting much! I've definitely learnt not to underestimate James in any future endeavours.
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