Scene and Heard: James Blake
Photo Credit: Mor Weizman
Photo Credit: Mor Weizman
Photo Credit: Mor Weizman
Photo Credit: Mor Weizman
Photo Credit: Mor Weizman
Photo Credit: Mor Weizman
Photo Credit: Mor Weizman
Photo Credit: Mor Weizman
Photo Credit: Mor Weizman
Photo Credit: Mor Weizman
Photo Credit: Mor Weizman
Photo Credit: Mor Weizman
Photo Credit: Mor Weizman
“As much as I love it when stuff gets caught in the loop and we have this circulating nightmare, it would be amazing if I can have it totally quiet,” said singer-songwriter James Blake after he took the stage for an encore at Hollywood Forever Cemetery on Wednesday, October 23. The London-born musician, who is also an electronic music producer, often begins his songs by singing a line of lyrics, recording his own voice, then looping it so that the recorded riff continues to play throughout the song. It’s a particularly gutsy trick to accomplish at a live show, and, on this warm fall evening, Blake wanted to ensure that audience screams wouldn’t register during the a cappella version of “Measurements” he was about to sing. To underscore his point, he asked fans to remain silent, “for the whole thing,” for the entire first verse of the song. “It’s going to keep going ’round,” he added, laughing. After singing the first verse, he looped it, and sang different harmonies along with the initial recording for the next four verses. His lyrics that began, “Please fall down testing sounds for the death of the forest cold,” continued to repeat long after he’d taken a bow.
Blake has said a chat with Joni Mitchell (after an L.A. concert at the Troubadour) inspired the song “Overgrown” on his sophomore album of the same name released this year from Polydor Records. To a rousing round of applause, he included a haunting cover of Mitchell’s “A Case of You” in his performance at the cemetery. The musician, who is known for his pitch-shifting vocals, even belted out the heartrending tune with some of the scratchiness Mitchell famously lent to the song.
After singing “Retrograde,” the beautiful first single he released from Overgrown about finding one’s way in the world, Blake turned to his band. “So by now it should be quite obvious that I can’t do this by myself,” he said before introducing Ben Assiter on drums and guitarist Rob McAndrews. Blake played the haunting song three days earlier at the Treasure Island Music Festival in San Francisco, where it also brought the crowd to its feet.
As helicopters soared high overhead, Blake continued to create loops with his voice and synthesizer. The inventive electronic manipulation combined with core-thumping bass anchored the audience in the present, even as they were surrounded by crypts and tombstones.
By Elizabeth Varnell
Setlist:
“I Never Learnt to Share”
“Life Round Here”
“To The Last”
“CMYK”
“Overgrown”
“I Am Sold”
“Our Love Comes Back”
“A Case of You” (by Joni Mitchell)
“Lindisfarne I”
“Lindisfarne II”
“Klavierwerke”
“Limit to Your Love” (by Feist)
“Voyeur”
“Retrograde”
“The Wilhelm Scream”
“Measurements”
Pictured: James Blake performs at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
Photo by Mor Weizman
