“Trying Times,” the song and the album, is not something your ears can put in the background. The seventh James Blake album is his most confident yet, shedding some of his experimental electronic skin to expose the strength in his voice and lyricism, filling space with its sonic clarity.
He joins our call after an eight-hour flight delay ahead of his show at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley on Thursday, pacing around the hotel room as he contemplates the album he calls his favorite yet. “I'm really excited to play San Francisco,” he says. “It's always an amazing place to play, but especially the Greek theater is just one of my favorite places to play.”
Read more of the conversation between James Blake and KALW’s Music Director Tshego Letsoalo below.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Tshego Letsoalo: I was just actually reflecting on my “James Blake experience” and thinking about that first album from 2011and how there've been albums that you've released that fit into various phases of my life. And not to make both of us feel old, but it's been 15 years, so do you have any big reflections on yourself as a creative artist and this journey that you've taken from that first album to Trying Times?
James Blake: I guess I started in some form of collage and have moved through several levels of confidence and explored lots of different things because I get bored very easily, so everything has to be some new challenge and achievement. Over that amount of time you can do a lot of that, so I think Trying Times represents a more outward-looking version of myself, probably because I grew in confidence in expressing my feelings on everything, I guess, not just my own mental state or my own relationship or whatever.
TL: Yeah, I was gonna ask, does it feel more vulnerable to do that, because especially this album has a lot more organic sounds where the electronic accoutrement is kind of out of the way and it feels like you're coming more to the front in a more human way. So do confidence and vulnerability kind of go together in that sense?
JB: I don't know, yeah, maybe that's it. Well, I think, no. I think it's a vulnerable thing to do, but also it's a kind of standing-in-your-power thing to do. It's not really just a sign of sticking to convention, it's more a sign of going, “yeah, this is me, and this is what I think, and I'm gonna deliver vocals powerfully and show what I can do,” which I believe “Trying Times” does as a song.
I think the conversation around electronic music or whether something is experimental or, you know, left field or electronic or pop,it's like, these are things that only matter now. In the future they don't matter, we just look back at things as music, and do you like it or do you not, do they resonate? And so, yeah, for me it's just a case of what version of myself I decide to explore, basically.
TL: I've always been curious, especially with your music about how does it start when there's nothing? Is it a lyric? Is it a sound? What is the nut that then blossoms into the thing?
JB: Very often, I work with Dom Maker quite a lot, and very often, he'll play something that I will immediately start responding to. He sort of is like a snake charmer. I just start, you know, moving and start writing and doing my thing as soon as he starts. He basically knows what to play me to inspire me, he always has. So there's that.
But outside of him, the piano often is the beginning of a lot of things. So I try and start there as much as possible, even if it just means taking a recording of it and doing stuff that you shouldn't do to pianos, basically, to get it to feel contemporary, or to get it to feel interesting. And then sometimes the piano is just perfect as it is, and you don't need to touch it.
But knowing when to do that, I guess, is just experience. And it's also just a personal taste thing. And, you know, ideally, you're just making music you want to hear, aren't you?
TL: And when do you know an album is done? When do you know to walk away and not keep fiddling? Because there's so many decisions I imagine that goes into it.
JB: Well, actually, that was a big part of what Jameela [Jamil] did was to make sure that there wasn't a single moment of filler. That this album really doesn't let its foot off the gas for a single second. There's just not really any fluff anywhere to be found. It's very lean and it’s not indulgent. So, yeah, I think that was a big part of how it felt finished.
It came down to what was high vibration as well. We were really paying attention to the vibration of the music. Like, how does it make you feel? Is it inspiring? And is it powerful, or is it what you describe as low vibration, which is potentially sending you into negativity or a lower vibrational state? I'm trying to explain it but if you know, you know. I think just from talking to you for a minute, you seem like someone who does understand what I'm talking about.
And I think that paying attention to vibration is something we can do in our lives as well. It's a way we can curate our lives. And that's certainly how I've been curating my life, whether it's people or experiences, and the album is exactly the same.
I curated it to a T, specifically in vibrational terms.
TL: I really appreciate that. Listening to this album front to back, feels like what you've said about everything you hear is meant to be there, and it then feels like everything is meant to be listened to its completeness and not while distracted and doing something else. My listening experience of it is also like, yeah, this is a listening album.
JB: It's symmetrical and it's clear. It's not busy. It's not chaotic. It's mentally clear. And I think that's had to be a reflection of how I actually am. It wasn't something I couldn't have done had I not felt mentally clear. I have albums that are not mentally clear, you know, like The Color In Anything is not mentally clear. It's an absolute jungle of ideas. And it's beautiful for that reason. I love it.
The Colour in Anything is probably my favourite album I've made other than this one. And it's kind of the polar opposite. But at the same time, this kind of feels like The Colour In Anything two. And it's my favourite because of that level of intentionality. The slowdown in “Days Go By” going into “Doesn't Just Happen” is perfect. This album hits when it should hit. Not to say that it's a hit or there are hits, but it hits.
TL: So what's it been like to bring it to life on this tour?
JB: Some of these tracks are played identically to the record and some of them have live adaptations. But the ones that are played identically to the record are played that way because the version on the record is just so powerful. I wanted to hear it that way. And then there are times where live it didn't translate as well. So we created a live version.
Songs like “Doesn't Just Happen,” “Days Go By,” and “Trying Times.” they clear live because they just feel so good.
And I just love the show where it's at because there are real oh s— moments that I maybe haven't designed shows to have before. This feels like there's theater to it.
There's real memorable moments in this show, and I'm super proud of that. And there's also a couple core members to help me achieve that.
TL: Congratulations. It must just feel so good to birth this beautiful baby and get to live with it in this way.
JB: Yeah, it really is. And also to have yourself and the people listening to this listen is what it's all about for me. That completes the loop. You know, it's all very well making it. But it's when you perform it in the room that it becomes real. Until this tour, it's just felt like trying to figure out how people were reacting to it, it was just numbers on the screen. You don't feel what it means to people.
And on this tour, I really found out what it means to people. And it's just been amazing. It's been so life affirming and creatively affirming as well. It's just shown me that I'm on the right path.
