As I've mentioned before, these last few weeks of Uni have been a teensy bit stressful. The adrenaline of all this essay writing and dissertation malarky [you can tell how bothered I am by that] has been keeping me on edge, eyes wide and brain eager to run full pelt towards the next thing on the list.
This eagerness would be great, if it knew when to switch off and let me relax. I've always been an over-worrier, forever preparing things in advance and panicking annoyingly about deadlines weeks in advance. It's just habit. A good one, I guess, until it gets to the stage when I just want to forget about everything and let my mind wander away from anything essay or exam related.
And that's where music comes in. That's not to say I don't depend on it 24 hours a day - certainly not, I'm one of those I-pod/human hybrids whose life depends on having a soundtrack - but just to offer the thought that different kinds of music can shape you in different ways. And for post-stress relaxation, I've taken to breaking out the chocolate, prising open a crisp new magazine, and switching on James Blake's début album.
Before I go on, this chap's music is by no means generic. I'm in no musically expert position to offer it a genre, although honestly I doubt anyone really could. Each track is so different, surreal in the most extreme of senses, and weirdly wonderful.
I can't lie, there are some tracks that I find truly difficult to listen to. They're not horrible, not offensive, just wholly unlike anything I've ever heard, and I suppose that unfamiliarity is what the release of this electronic album is attempting to challenge.
The track that bridges this gap though, between more popular genres and Blake's own creation, is Limit to Your Love, and it has a video too good not to share...
[If that's not your cup of tea, you can listen to Feist's original version here]
It's a stunning work of musical genius. GENIUS I tell you. Hopefully it's a recognisable track due to it's Radio 1 following a while back. I've heard through the grapevine that he's rumoured to be playing at Glastonbury, and I'm excited to see how the live versions of such heavily produced songs will turn out.
It's a stunning work of musical genius. GENIUS I tell you. Hopefully it's a recognisable track due to it's Radio 1 following a while back. I've heard through the grapevine that he's rumoured to be playing at Glastonbury, and I'm excited to see how the live versions of such heavily produced songs will turn out.
I guess at the end of it all, James Blake is a bit like musical Marmite. Although in both cases I've always been the awkward one to sit on the fence between love and hate. Either way, I'll definitely be adding him to the relaxing play-list... just as soon as I can justify more of those gloriously selfish evenings of chocolate, Elle and I-tunes. Bliss.
