James Blake
“Retrograde”
Overgrown (out April 1 on Polydor)
I feel pretty comfortable writing about most tracks after listening to them three or four times, but James Blake’s majestic new single is not “most tracks.” After letting it sink in for about a week, I feel comfortable calling this his most spellbinding original work (ie, not counting his perfect cover of Joni Mitchell’s “A Case of You”) since the genre-defining title track from his seminal 2010 EP, CMYK. This, of course, includes all of his break-out debut LP — one of my Top 5 albums of 2011 — so there’s no hint of faint praise.
In many ways, “Retrograde” is the most fully-realized pop song he’s ever released and one of the few with something that approaches a verse-chorus-verse-chorus structure, but that isn’t what makes it stand out. It’s Blake’s ability to embrace and combine those sensibilities with his experimental roots and challenging, innovative sonic palette. His debut hinted that he was capable, yet uncomfortable with the notion of reinventing himself as a pop musician, and “Retrograde” is very much the sound of the Londoner fulfilling that potential. I can’t promise that it’ll end up as my song of the year, but I can promise that it’ll take some serious beating.
