.::James Blake, 5.14.13::.

English singer/songwriter/producer James Blake’s cover of Feist’s “The Limit to Your Love” from his self-titled LP was the tipping point.  Already a moving declaration to an indifferent partner, the song was then layered with Blake’s unique production.  The single skyrocketed him to global recognition after his much buzzed about EP releases.  Held at The Masquerade, the sold out, diverse crowd gathered to watch the genre-mixing whiz kid’s performance.

You get the impression from the ambient music reflected on his full length albums that Blake will stay in that vein for his live show.  However, don’t get it twisted because he takes influences from all over the musical spectrum as the show opened with an extended dance track infused with dubstep + soul accents.  It became even more apparent after he told us about his side hustle named 1-800-Dinosaur that produces mostly dance music + there’s also the fact that he’s collaborated with Bon Iver.  The live set included a band as well as intermittent house inspired interludes that made me wonder if we were really at MJQ.  The crowd sent the creaky boards of The Masquerade shaking as one of those interludes would break up one of Blake’s songs where his vocals + piano usually star.  As he closed with latest single “Retrograde,” + the encore began, nearly everyone was singing every word + hopeful that Blake would keep his promise to come back to the States later this year.

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