Friends That Break Your Heart - James Blake: Review
James Blake
is a London based producer, singer and songwriter who developed an instantly recognizable sound over the last decade. In his early days he dabbled in dubstep and abstract electronica before working chilling R&B stylings into his sound. On his 4th album Assume Form he greatly expanded the scope of his collaborators to include the worlds of pop, experimental R&B and even hip hop both new and old alongside Travis Scott and Andre 3000. Friends comes just two years later and has seen James profile continue to grow through continued collaborations with contemporary pop, rap and R&B artists.
Review By Lav:
So here's the part where I say exactly what anyone who has been following me for any significant amount of time is already thinking, I fucking LOVE James Blake's music. I called his self-titled debut my runner up album of the decade a few years ago and the best album of 2011 in a video earlier this year. The Color In Anything cracked my top 10 albums of the year in 2016 and the follow-up Assume Form made it into the top five in 2019. On top of this James has been on the singles of the year list pretty much every year I've done it, he's been a dominating force on the songs of the year list and he dropped my favorite EP of 2020. So yeah, I'm a fan. But I'm not blind enough to blindly accept anything James does and I always had a feeling that one day he would release something that I didn't connect with in the same way as the unbelievable run of records he started his career with. Spoiler alert, this album isn't that, this album fucking rules. For an artist who has always been so exceptional at minimalism this is perhaps James' most vulnerable and intimate release yet that sees him continuing to employ his vocals flawlessly and wear his heart on his sleeve in impressively raw and powerful ways. It may not be the single most incredible thing he's ever done but it has a chance to go down as one of the most personally defining.
The era got started with a trio of pretty good singles, two of which serve as the records first two tracks. Famous Last Words is the opener and it feels straight out of Overgrown era James Blake. The synthetic but still impossibly gentle instrumental sways through the songs transitional moments and lets out these gentle little pulsating synths that serve as a steady base for the song. When the strings work their way back into the song everything rushes to the front of the mic for a high impact bridge before it all settles back down into a blissful finale. Life Is Not The Same is up next and between the three singles this is probably the one I was least enamored with. The biggest issue is the Take A Daytrip beat which is just so standard and painfully forgettable especially alongside all the other tracks here. Thankfully James picks up the slack with a wonderfully written song and a brilliant vocal performance. He continues to implement subtle vocal manipulations to absolute perfection and the song has some magical moments even with the dry instrumental.
Say What You Will was the records lead single and sets up its big emotional themes of insecurity and imposter-syndrome, despite the fact that the song itself proves exactly why James Blake belongs in the position he's in. It's as gorgeously presented as any James Blake song and you really don't need me to explain every reason it's so great just listen to it. Some of the best songs on this record are the ones that explore these themes in even greater detail. Funeral is a short little identity crisis but also one of the records emotional bright points. I love the touching hook where James promises to truly put his best foot forward and be truthful and vulnerable to the important people in his life. Despite its brevity it's an extremely memorable moment.
The record ends off with a pair of thematically strong tracks with the title track coming first. It's sort of like a James Blake approach to guitar balladry except the true focus of the instrumental is the piano that takes over the emotionally high impact moments. James is just so incredible at extracting so much pain and anguish out of the most minimal instrumentation and vocal performances and the track is a masterclass in fragile and touching songwriting. The closing track If I'm Insecure sees James absolutely bearing it all and conceptually tying the record together around his own insecurities and the people in his life who make him feel okay about them and about himself. It is remarkably honest and raw characterization and even better sonic arrangements with walls of sounds that throw it back to James' debut album. It really is the conclusion that a great record deserved.
Even though there is a heavy focus on the records themes it is still a James Blake album and that means there will be some tracks that deliver stunning instrumentals. I'm So Blessed You're Mind kicks off like a ballad with a simple glittery instrumental and soft vocals but it all kicks off after an honest to god beat switch that is just unbelievably slick. While the instrumental is certainly the highlight of the song the eerie backing vocals and frontal lead vocals are icing on the cake and the whole thing is a surreal wander through all these sounds that just have me mesmerized. Lost Angel Nights kicks off with some chilly vocalizing and features a truly minimal beat snapping away behind James' vocals. The song has an extremely effective emotional rise that coincides with the instrumental getting busier and more detailed. It's a textbook crescendo that works its way from icy minimalism into a blissful eruption perfectly.
One of the only controversial things about James' last record Assume Form was its transition into including more mainstream features. While Rosalia and Moses Sumney went over pretty well with everyone I still see fans to this day complaining that the Travis Scott or Andre 3000 cuts saw James selling his own unique style short. While I wasn't necessarily one of those people it is an opinion that's out there. Friends That Break Your Heart has 3 tracks with featured artists and for the first two, I can't even imagine how anyone could have any complaints. Coming Back is one of James' truest flirtations with true R&B music though it is still a bit too obtuse for the genres commercial diehards, at least during his own parts. But when SZA comes in and the drums start to really pop alongside those smooth synth lines that run on a tight loop it makes for an absolutely infectious blend. The pair craft a contemplative and painfully honest analysis of a relationship and the mistakes that can threaten it. An even better collab comes on Frozen which, as weird as it is to say this about a James Blake song, fucking kicks ass. James sounds so eerie and chilling in his hook over this murky almost horror like instrumental. It contrasts PERFECTLY with JID's slick and confident bars in his opening verse. The beat has that touch of rattling bass that just makes rap verses pop but it all comes filtered through James' unmistakable style. While it was always going to be impossible for SwaVay to live up to the songs opening he honestly delivers a damn good verse of his own to close the song out and make for an amazing moment.
While the record obviously isn't perfect even when I do have complaints about songs they normally come tethered to major compliments. Foot Forward has one of the most catchy and forward hooks you'll hear on the record along with a bouncy piano instrumental that is interpolated pretty well with the vocal samples and chilly synths. The only complaint I have about the track is that compositionally I'm not totally sold its development and it seems like it just kind of ends out of nowhere. Show Me is the one song on the whole album that I'm just not crazy about. I think it kind of proves why it's so hard for guest vocalists to come on a track and try to adapt to James' own style. He just does laps around even really good vocalists if they aren't equipped to seamlessly meld into the very specific style. Monica Martin of PHOX fame is featured on this song, remember PHOX? Not important. Not only does she struggle to keep up despite being a more than capable singer but the track also has some really weird transitions between passages and just generally isn't one of my favorites here from any angle.
James Blake has always been intimate, always been emotional and always been beautiful but on Friends That Break Your Heart he is impressively and magnificently persona. Obviously his own experiences and emotions have inspired songs he's written in the past but this album is truly a portrait of James' vulnerabilities and his deepest worries. It's amazing how effectively these weighty emotional burdens are translated into songs that sound so blissful and occasionally incredible catchy. Instrumentally this is another masterwork from James with expansive synth palettes and punchy percussion that stretch the sounds of this record to atmospheric proportions, and acoustic strings and pianos that snap it back to a place as intimate as the emotions it conveys. There was never any suspense that the record would be good, only how it would be good, and a decade into his career James Blake continues to find new ways to amaze me as a singer, songwriter, producer and now putting his heart out there for the whole world to see as a lyricist. It's another triumph for one of the brightest stars in music. 9/10
I like this cover a lot. I think it's well composed and there's not too much going on which helps you take in all the subtle details. The color is vibrant bit not in your face and the concept of the abstract subject works well paired with the shadows from the trees. I like the border and text which all brings it together. 8/10
For more digital genre fusions check out my review of Clarence Clarity's Vanishing Act 1 EP here
