Live Review: James Blake Sydney Opera House Lorin Reid

4 August 2013 | 1:07 pm | Lorin Reid

James Blake is an experience as much felt as heard and his experimental electronics were perfectly offset by the cry, whisper, mumble and hum of his words.

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It was enthralling to watch Sydney's Oliver Tank construct his electronic, dreamwave tunes one layer at a time. Full of xylophone and wavering vocals, his cover of Snoop Dogg's Beautiful was unexpected, and halfway through a very short set he whipped out a red electric guitar and slotted its gritty strums seamlessly into the mix.

James Blake is unarguably the best hummer in the world, and the way his delicate voice crackled, reaching for that high note in the Retrograde intro, was as magical as expected. The performance began with a soundscape lightshow that was an assault to the senses before Blake and two of his oldest friends, the exceptional drummer Ben Assiter and guitarist Rob McAndrews took to the stage for the epic, sample-fuelled, instrumental track, Air And Lack Thereof.

On the second song in, I Never Learnt To Share, Blake began looping his vocals – laying harmonies and melodies down over the original track. It was an enchanting one-man process that captured and immortalised a whole handful of voices including cheers from the crowd.

The mournful set progressed hypnotically, each song building in intensity and affront. His gentle vocals juxtaposed starkly with the thumping bass and changing rhythms. Blake leant into his dissonant organ chords as if pressing his life into the keys. He called the seated audience “caged birds” as he shrugged his shoulders along to the beat. A fairly introverted performance, the a cappella Auto-Tuned beginning of Lindisfarne I was a highlight, as was the incredible encore, when a huge grand piano was wheeled on stage, a personal Sydney Opera House dream come true for Blake as he wandered through his acclaimed cover of Joni Mitchell's A Case Of You.

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James Blake is an experience as much felt as heard and his experimental electronics were perfectly offset by the cry, whisper, mumble and hum of his words.