James Blake’s voice sounds like it belongs to a man twice his age, with twice the vocal maturity. The 28-year-old’s highly anticipated new album, The Colour in Anything, follows a series of atmospheric and haunting singles, beginning with 2011’s head-turner “The Wilhelm Scream,” found on Blake’s self-titled debut album. “Modern Soul,” from The Colour in Anything, showcases the artist’s producing abilities. A lo-fi rhythm sound provides the backbone for gentle piano accents and other minimalist effects, all underpinning the quiet beauty of Blake’s voice. “I know a crossroads when I see him, when I see them,” he sings in a veritable whisper.
Song of the Day: “Modern Soul”
Max Gray
Read more of Max Gray at Big City Sasquatch or follow him on Twitter @City_Sasquatch. His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in Encounters, Mount Hope, Conte, tNY.press, and English Kills Review. He co-hosts the etymology podcast Words For Dinner and is a graduate of the Rutgers-Newark MFA program.