A fortnight out from the release of his sophomore LP “Overgrown” Pedestrian chats with prodigious Enlgish producer-singer-songwriter James Blake about the creative benefits of working with Brian Eno, returning to Australia for Splendour in the Grass and supplanting the head with the heart.
Hey James, how has your trip been so far? It’s been good. It’s been nice. Surreal and really different. I got up at 4am this morning so I don’t really know what’s going on.
What’s the first thing you do when you get to Australia? Well I get in touch with family members who live in Sydney. My Mum’s brother and all my cousins, my only cousins, live here. So it’s nice to see them. And they’re all my age which is great. What else? It’s kind of like an alternate reality. It’s on the opposite side of the world. I’m just happy to be here.
What’s the audience reaction been like to the new songs? Brilliant actually. Really, really strong. Positive.
Do you put much stock into that as a barometer for how they stand up as songs? Oh definitely. I only take that as a barometer. That and what people say on the internet. It’s the only thing I’ve got because people haven’t bought it yet and no one’s probably going to buy it so…(laughs).
What is the biggest difference for you as far as your headspace and your abilities as a songwriter this time around? I’ve tried to hone the craft a bit. I’ve worked at the songwriting aspect of things but I’ve tried to do it in a way that was organic and personal to myself. I didn’t want to say “now I’ve got to write songs” I tried to do it in my own way.
Because the first album struck me as very much an exploration of form. It is, yeah. It’s like a collage.
Whereas this feels more story driven. Yeah I think so. I think that’s good. It’s definitely a good thing.
What informed that? Loads of things. Experiences. People I’ve met. The lifestyle of somebody who never really goes home for an extended period of time. Love and having it be so hard to keep present because you’re always traveling. That stuff.
So you had a concrete muse this time around? Yeah, definitely.
What was it like working with Brian Eno and using him as a sounding board for your work? I learned to take it easy and not put yourself under too much pressure. I learned that my instincts are true and even if I’m putting pressure on myself if the results are good I should not question them so much. Initially I just wanted to reach out and meet him. It was getting to the point where there were a lot of opinions and I needed to speak to somebody who knew what they were talking about. Not just friends or my manager or A&R or the label. I needed to speak with somebody who’d released a lot of albums, who’d worked on a lot of albums, who knew how to shape an album and knew what those albums were going to do in the grand scheme of things. It is a science in some ways. Albeit a non-precise one but a lot of great albums were produced by Brian Eno so somebody like that is going to have a lot of wisdom to impart.
How did that relationship transform into collaborating musically? We just hung out at his house for a few days and came up with a few tunes. “Digital Lion” was one of the better ones. I don’t know what we’ll do with the others.
What was the hardest song to get out? The hardest song to get out was “Life Around Here”. I didn’t know how to finish it. I’m not sure if it is finished.
I really like that one. It does feel very laboured over. Yeah. It does feel laboured. It’s definitely a good tune I just don’t know if it’s finished or whether I care if it’s finished. It just has this feel where it kind of doesn’t need anything else. You never really finish anything you just submit it.
Is there an internal system for you for when something is ready to be the definitive version of an idea? Yeah. It’s if I can play it to somebody else in the room and be proud of it. If I’m going “I wonder what they’ll think of that” it’s bad. Time to go back to the drawing board. All of it was more laboured that the first record. The songs for the first record happened really quickly. Almost all of them. This one I really worked on the song structures a lot more. It was harder to write because there was a lot more expectation. I couldn’t just come out and repeat the same lyric fifty times and expect people to listen to it. I had to do something else.
The cliche is that you have your whole life to make your first record and obviously people were aware of you before that with the EPs and singles but were you mindful of that expectation? Did you talk to Brian specifically about placing albums in the context of a career and within a larger body of work? Yeah definitely. When you’re the judge, jury and executioner of the record you can’t let anything go. You can’t relax too much or else you’ll just do something which isn’t you best work. And people will be like “should have gotten a producer in”. You have to do the job so well that people can’t question the fact you’re doing everything yourself. Or you may as well work with other people who can achieve the same result. I mean, I’m doing three people’s jobs. That’s quite difficult.
What was it like working with Nabil, who’s doing your next video? Brilliant. He’s a brilliant director. I really hold him in high regard not just as a director but as a person. He’s a lovely guy. We hung out and had a lot of fun together. Very focused on set. I just did the “Overgrown” video with him and he’s really a commander in the field. The video looks great. He’s got great ideas.
The last time you were in Australia for Splendour In The Grass, Kanye West said that he sought you out personally. How did that go? Yeah I went into his private area. And I just kind of talked and he just kind of starred at me. It’s pretty much what happened. He had some things to say I just think he was a bit tired. He’s a hardworking guy. I enjoyed speaking to him. He’s a really nice guy. Definitively has a public and a private persona. He is interpreted and misinterpreted and just has a way. He’s Kanye. He does what he likes. I’ve been a fan of Kanye since College Dropout, that’s an amazing album. So when I met him that all came flooding back and I was looking at the guy who did “Spaceship” and all those songs. It was great.
Do you have plans to come back for a wider tour? Yeah I do. That’s going to happen later in the year.
And are you going to play Splendour again? Because they love having people back. I hear I might be. We’ll see (laughs).
I see. What did you hope to accomplish with this record? To make a record I could play live and to write better songs.
Again, to me, the main difference [between the albums] is that the first
felt like an intellectual exercise whereas this one feels more like an
emotional one. Is that a fair assessment? Yeah. I agree completely.
Not to get too deep and psychoanalyze myself but the first album was
written from the perspective of someone who hadn’t really experienced
love before. That means that anyone listening who has been in love, or
is in love, or understands love will feel slightly removed. I can
understand that.
By extension, does that mean you can appreciate and understand songs about love and romance more now? (Laughs)
Yeah! Suddenly I listen to songs on the radio or on the internet and I
go “Oh, I get that. I get that now.” It’s pretty amazing. Like unlocking
doors. All that cheesy pop music which I thought was rubbish on face
value, I get it now.
There’s also another door to unlock. Yeah, what’s that?
Devastating heartbreak. I know, I know. Oh god. It’s like anything. Mourning, heartbreak you just hope those things don’t happen to you but I suppose inevitably they have to.
So what’s something specifically where you’ve gone “Oh I get that now”? Something like “My Girl” or songs like that which seem quite frivolous and cheesy on the outside. Suddenly they’re articulating something very real and valuable to me.
What is in store for the rest of the year? Touring and lots of chess. It’s what the iPhone was invented for.
Who do you play with? Anyone. It’s the 21st century. I’ll play with anyone. In fact, it makes it better it they’re random so I can insult them.
Thank you for your time James. Cheers
Overgrown is slated for release April 8.
