“When you’re in your 20s, it really feels like innovating and having your own sound is really important ... But ultimately you get to a point where you go, well, the most important thing is I’ve had fun,” says jamesblake
Illustration: Iris Gottllieb For a decade, James Blake has crafted an idiosyncratic sound: His early work as a minimalist electronic producer fused unfiltered synthesizers with lyrical collage and lush R&B chords; he describes his 2013 hit “Retrograde” as both apocalyptic and romantic. But his subversive production shows up on three of the most important albums in recent history: Beyoncé’s “Lemonade,” Kendrick Lamar’s “DAMN,” and Frank Ocean’s “Blonde.
That made me a bit insecure. I was just like, Fuck, I’m probably never going to be accepted in pop music really. And yet here we are, pop music sounds like that shit and I’m not even doing that anymore. So where’s my place in pop music? Maybe I don’t have one or maybe it was always on the outskirts looking in.
If we look at your single “Life Is Not the Same,” it’s sort of a more limited palette for a James Blake piece. It’s a four-chord loop. And yet there’s still a lot of chordal richness. This is a Take a Daytrip beat. I can’t take credit for that chord progression, but I can say what it makes me feel. It reminded me of the world of “Retrograde.” The piano and the humming and the cold world that it lives in felt like revisiting a feeling. It’s kind of apocalyptic. It’s kind of late night. It’s deep. It’s a bit misty. It’s a little bit romantic.
What do you think that style of playing does? Are there certain emotions that this wandering leans toward?
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