Album Review: James Blake - Overgrown

We've still got a little while to see if this, James Blake's second album, will be one of the best of the year. I am going to go out there and say that it's a high contender for the most fittingly titled album so far, however. Overgrown is a lush, blossoming album. It's packed full of the falsetto and orchestral synth lines Blake is known for, but it manages to creep up on you and build on the James Blake design momentously.

Blake makes his statement clear with the opening and title track over a metronome beat and dull, throbbing beats. “I don't wanna be a star or a stone on the shore/ no doorframe in the wall when everything's overgrown.” Follower, I Am Sold, is easily Four Tet-ish remix fodder, Life Around Here sounds like a surreal, warped Backstreet Boys song (in the best way possible), and Take A Fall For Me sees RZA deliver some direct vocal work, showing Blake can up the beat to a hip hop lean. Retrograde, the track everyone's heard and tried their best to emulate, is stunning as ever when placed in the middle of the track set. It's incredibly simple, yet incredibly powerful, much like the album as a whole. DLM is a surprise, with naught but vocals and pianos continuing the theme. Digital Lion is proto-avant garde, Voyeur is fittingly creepy, and closer Our Love Comes Back ties everything up beautifully.

Retrograde was an easy pick for lead single; it's the most accessible track here. But while the rest of the album is a slow-burner, it creeps in and out of identity and psyche with passionate grace. Well worth the effort.