James Blake has become a pop star. »Overgrown« shows us how that could have happened and tries to fight all the down sides coming along with that status. Instead of resting on his laurels, Blake is searching for a place of retreat through his lyrics. He holes up in his inner life and sings about it. It makes »Overgrown« somewhat fragile and vulnerable, because he turns his inner self inside out, using his lyrics as a transmitter. However, just like on his previous record, he contrasts this fragility with something hard – his instrumentals. With those, in particular, Blake has moved a step forwards, or rather backwards to the times of the »CMYK«-EP. The instrumentals are sprayed out into the cosmos, attached to a long trail of synthezisers. When the melody bursts out in a mighty swirl from the depths of the bass and the drowsiness of the piano, it drags the listener along with so much power that he will instantly curse Blake’s mumbly whining. It wouldn’t have hurt the record if the lyrics were reduced here or there. But no matter if you like his voice or not, you have to admit that James Blake has finally arrived in his very own world of sound – no one else produces music the way he does.
Overgrown
