Before

James Blake

It has been a little bit since I've caught up with what James Blake has been doing and the Before EP has been a pleasant way to get reacquainted with his sound. Blake is such a talented musician and producer who fuses elements of house, soul, R&B, and hip-hop in a way that is moody and other-worldly. Blake's voice is as smooth and soothing as ever, but this EP is I think the first time I've heard Blake experiment with some pretty wacky vocal effects. Tracks like I Keep Calling and Summer Of Now feature some chipmunked vocals and the latter also has a section where there is a pretty heavy tremolo applied to his voice; an effect that typically isn't applied to vocals. It's not as aggressive as a stutter, but it's still pretty noticeable and attention grabbing. Speaking of I Keep Calling, the EP's opening track, it is a total house banger and easily my favourite track on the record. I love the warped vocal sample, soft keys, and most of all, that electro-house beat. It first comes in with this lumbering half-time groove and transitions into this almost 'four-on-the-floor' dance beat that I just can't help but move to. While not as danceable, Summer Of Now delivers emotional potency with Blake's wonderful vocal performance in the intro. The organs and strings, especially when the song breaks down in the middle, give the song this epic and triumphant feeling as well.

I didn't mind the other two tracks but they certainly didn't grab my attention the way I Keep Calling and Summer Of Now did. I like the title track a little which has a pretty great chorus thanks to the double tracked vocals and the moody keys, but the beat is pretty plain and stagnant throughout the track. Lastly, we have Do You Ever which I could take or leave. I'm not too crazy about the vocal performance here, especially that 'really?' ad-lib that pops up frequently. The tune also doesn't really have all that catchy of a melody in my opinion. However, just off the strength of the opening and closing tracks I mentioned in the beginning, I'm really looking forward to what is coming up next for Blake and I'm also very curious to go back to his previous two records which I somehow missed.