I really wish that James Blake´s (self titled) album would have similar qualities than Mount Kimbies Crooks and Lovers did have. I mean if it doesn´t it is going to be one of the biggest disappointments of the year!
Though Mount Kimbies effort was not as good as the previous ep´s had been and I must admit that I was expecting way too much from them it has grown over repeated listening to be quite well composed and interesting experimental organism. Their sound is definitely original and presents sort of tinkered maximalism. On the first listen there was already hints of great arrangements and some of the trax left me wonder how these should be working (and propably thinking about the right environment). Now, after half a year I think this is among the great electronic music albums even though it has some flaws in, say continuity...
Blake´s album however has not started to fly yet. I have listened to it trough few times now and still don´t get it. First problem was the printed lyrics, why are these here. It doesn´t seem to say anything that important and the poetry behind is not that clever. Similar artist such as Burial have left this kind of nonsense away from the covers and concentrated to leave as much as possible to listeners imagination. The songs themselves are much more skeletized than I thought they would be and in most trax the voice of James Blake himself seems to be the only noticeable element available. Of course there is deep bass here and there and some percussions and stuff but it all seems too easy.
One of the big problems with the album is that the compositions feel like old English christmas carrols! I mean it feels somehow cheap and the melodies are repetitive in a manner that gives me this weird impression. I may be alone with this argument but listen to the last track "measurements"! I just can´t get this idea out of my mind when I keep listening to it. Some vocals are very irritating and it seems that Blake is holding something back all the time. It´s like he´s afraid of letting the songs grow and sticking to the minimalism as a safe ground for being intelligent.
In discogs I gave Blake´s album three stars out of five but this is propably going to be lowered to two if I can´t find the clue behind his sound. Mount Kimbie deserves four stars for their set and I really wish they enhance the sound that was present at the ep´s to a full scale album one day.
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