In short, The Colour in Anything is the sound of Blake emerging from his cocoon and grasping at the sounds and sights that the world has to offer. Sonically, Anything is Blake’s most experimental record yet (and that’s saying something considering that his first album came to redefine experimental pop music). Songs like “Two Men Down” and “Always” warp James’ voice in weird and unexpected ways, lending the tracks an otherworldly quality. This is particularly true of “Two Men Down,” which takes Connan Mockasin’s guitar licks and rappels with them into the ether. “Always” has Blake dueting with sporadic samples of himself against an instrumental that’s equal parts Radiohead and Nils Frahm. Production-wise, it’s notable how present his voice is throughout this album. Even as he warps his vocals and throws them through multiple effects (his trademark vocoder and AutoTune make triumphant returns after being absent on Overgrown), they remain centered in the mix, and lend the tracks a unity that makes the album feel more like a coherent journey through different landscapes.Īnd while the vocals may be noteworthy, the production is the marquee attraction here. Blake enlisted a number of co-conspirators in this effort, including Connan Mockasin and Rick Rubin, and their respective influences can be felt across many of the album’s tracks. With a heavyweight like Rubin manning the boards, one can imagine Blake losing himself in Rubin’s signature styles or catering more towards Rubin’s sensibility. Thankfully Blake is more than able to retain his own sonic signatures, and the tracks never stop sounding like a James Blake production, whatever that means now. I say that because Anything takes Blake’s sound in a number of interesting and visceral directions. “I Need A Forest Fire” takes the folky pop of Bon Iver’s Blood Bank and merges it with the emotional R&B that Frank Ocean and others have been hammering home since 2012. It’s one of the most accessible songs in Blake’s catalogue, matching and in some respects exceeding “Retrograde’s” sensual otherworldliness. “Modern Soul” has Blake flexing his gospel muscles more forcefully than he has on any other project. Everything from the chords to the stomp-clap chorus scream James Cleveland or Mahalia Jackson. Second single “Timeless” marries Blake’s balladry with jagged hip-hop beats that recall prior excursions like “Take A Fall For Me.” But this time around, Blake sticks the landing. “Radio Silence” is probably the first and only effective entry in a music style that can only be characterized as waltz-trap. And then there’s “Points,” the bassiest and wubbiest of the tracks here.
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January 2023
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