- il y a 6 mois
Cette semaine, James Blake revient avec "Trying Times", son nouvel album. L'occasion de s'entretenir avec l'un des musiciens les plus influents de ces dernières années.
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00:00James, nice to meet you.
00:01Nice to meet you too.
00:02Yeah, I'm very happy to meet you here.
00:04We're in Paris.
00:06I think you grew up in a very musical environment.
00:10Was there any French artist that you grew up listening to?
00:15Eric Satie.
00:17Oh, Eric Satie, okay.
00:20Yeah, the French artist.
00:24Was your father playing that at home?
00:26No, that was me.
00:28Okay.
00:32And there were some others, but I don't think, I think my dad, I didn't really grow up on a
00:38huge amount of French music, if I'm totally honest.
00:40I was introduced to it later, but yeah, through classical music.
00:44Okay, okay, okay.
00:46What did you listen to when you were a child?
00:50I listened to, like a lot of, I listened to this artist called Sonny Boy Williamson, who's a, who's a,
01:03like a blues harmonica player.
01:05Okay.
01:05Quite a bit.
01:07I listened to Level 42.
01:10I listened to Mike and the Mechanics.
01:14Okay.
01:14Mariah Carey.
01:16Yeah.
01:18Destiny's Child.
01:20Okay.
01:21Very different stuff.
01:23Yeah, like massive range.
01:24I think it's interesting because, like we just started and you mentioned classical music, R&B, pop music.
01:32And since I've been listening to you more than 10 years now, I think I've always see you as kind
01:41of, you know, someone who can unify different genres, you know, because you can work with people from electronic, from
01:50rap, from, is this, do you see music like that?
01:54Because I've always had difficulties to just say, okay, James Blake is an electronic artist or a pop artist.
02:02For me, it's very difficult because you're much more than that.
02:05Do you see music like that, like a way of connecting very different music and different genres?
02:12Well, I guess with most artists, we don't really see the boundaries of genre as defined as maybe when people
02:24are selling.
02:24Music, you know, it's like a supermarket with fruit, vegetables, blah, blah, blah.
02:30You go, well, when we actually make a meal out of those things, we don't sort of categorize things as
02:36rigidly.
02:40But, yeah, I think partly that's because music is, I guess, a spiritual language spoken by people who...
02:55...arrive at that form of communication through probably a fairly similar emotional journey very often.
03:05So, you know, you meet people in music who just seem like kindred spirits from completely different cultures and completely
03:12different backgrounds.
03:16And the thing that, the thread that ties you together isn't necessarily culture or language or whatever.
03:24But it will be usually something emotional or spiritual and sometimes artistic.
03:29You mentioned the fact that people who sell music can see music at a supermarket.
03:34And you've been clearly verbal about that over the last years, over the fact that you also want to maybe
03:41fight the industry.
03:42I don't know if it's the right word, but anyway, you want actually, you're independent now.
03:47It's the first album that you're clearly releasing by yourself.
03:51Why was it really important for you?
03:53Because you spoke about streaming platforms, about how they can be reductive, how they can have a bad influence also
04:00on creativity.
04:01How it's hard for a lot of artists to earn money from streaming platforms.
04:06Why was it that much important for you to arrive with this album by yourself?
04:14Well, yeah, I guess I'm not fighting the industry.
04:18I don't feel like I'm in a fight.
04:20I feel like I've invited a lot of people to join a new way of thinking.
04:29And I've myself discovered lots of new ways of thinking through people who had great ideas.
04:41And, you know, the industry is already kind of changing a bit.
04:45You can see that things are restructuring and, you know, you can see majors kind of acquiring distribution channels and
04:54things that seem independent, but maybe now are not so independent, etc.
05:01So they're finding a way to survive in the same way.
05:03But the actual industry itself is, yeah, like 0.2% of the profit that the industry makes goes to
05:13actual artists.
05:15So I guess I'm not sure how much of that has changed.
05:20It will just be a new shape of the same thing, really.
05:24What will change, though, and what is changing is whether artists are, you know, whether they feel comfortable signing a
05:37contract that sells their masters forever or whether they'll feel comfortable with certain terms and clauses and things.
05:45So I think the value of an independent musician is going up.
05:53And I think the value of especially somebody who understands their business is going up.
06:04And I think the thing that, you know, a friend of mine, Moses, somebody said, like, the thing I wish
06:10I'd known when I was an artist starting out, that I wish I'd known I was a small business.
06:18And I think that's true.
06:19And I think that artists are small businesses and everyone knows that except them.
06:27When you released your first album in 2011, James Blake, were you aware of that?
06:34Like, did you saw yourself also as a businessman or only as an artist?
06:39Not at all.
06:40No.
06:40I mean, you don't have to be a businessman.
06:43I mean, you don't have to be a businessman.
06:46You don't have to be a...
06:48But do you have to be, maybe?
06:49Well, I think what you have to be is you have to have information.
06:53You have to have the same information that the rest of the industry has.
06:57And that's what we don't have yet.
06:59Yeah.
07:00So far, nothing has put that information in the hands of artists.
07:07So that's something that I would like to help do in the future.
07:15But the, you know, the...
07:19Yeah, I didn't know anything.
07:21And to be honest, I wouldn't say I really knew anything until two years ago.
07:26Okay.
07:26I mean, I knew a bit, but I mostly just focused on the music.
07:30And I think, you know, it's obviously I want to focus on music sometimes, most of the time.
07:36But I think I hadn't carved out enough space to really understand the rest.
07:41And that was my mistake.
07:45What happened two years ago?
07:49Well, you know, it actually started with seeing like an Instagram post about, you know, an artist talking about how
07:59we're being driven to just be TikTok machines.
08:02Yeah.
08:02You know, and I looked at what he was saying and I completely agreed.
08:09And I just kind of had my own outpouring response.
08:14I just kind of started firing off Instagrams and tweets.
08:20And, you know, those posts went really, really viral.
08:23And I didn't expect that at all, to be honest.
08:25I was just kind of complaining and talking about the problems I see for, you know, for artists.
08:36And it went so wide that I just kind of suddenly I was put in the spotlight and kind of
08:42having to massively educate myself and like figure out what else I wanted to say.
08:47And like what potential solutions were and what, how, you know, how I was going to, because I didn't want
08:53to just be someone who complains.
08:54I wanted to do something about it.
08:57The new album is called Trying Times.
09:00Would you say is an album mostly about you or mostly about the times we are living in?
09:08It's not, well, I would say it's about the reconciling this, the, the small individual and life and, you know,
09:26your dreams and aspirations and love and friendships and everything.
09:30And your own struggles with what we are now, the information we now have about what's happening everywhere else.
09:45And, you know, and how much you participate or how much you're complicit or how much you, you know, interface
09:57with it, really.
09:59And the, the ominous feeling that's in the air that I think everyone can feel is, is something I've sort
10:06of, I guess, worked on, like worked with as a, as a material for the, for the music.
10:15Would you say you're kind of a lonely person?
10:20No.
10:21No, okay.
10:22No, not anymore.
10:24Okay.
10:25You used to be that?
10:26Yeah, I would say so.
10:29Um, I think that's maybe why my music's become more outward facing rather than inward.
10:35Um, because, you know, I think loneliness sometimes can come from this feeling of, you know, it's me and my,
10:46my addictions and my, my coping mechanisms versus everyone else, you know?
10:54And that can create like a lonely spiral, um, because ultimately you team up with your addictions, you team up
11:01with your demons.
11:04Um, and the, the, the less I did that and the more I put them out into the open and
11:10spoke about them as if, as in the addictions or the, the things I wanted to overcome about my ego,
11:17the more I put them over here in the light and talked about them as if, you know, they're not
11:25mine.
11:25Um, they're actually something I want to overcome with the help of the help of the people around me, the
11:33less lonely I was.
11:34Um, on the album, there's a collaboration with someone that was in Paris a few weeks ago, Dave, um, someone
11:42that you, we know you, you like to collaborate with.
11:45Um, he's a fantastic rapper, of course.
11:48Um, what is the secret behind your chemistry?
11:52Because we can see that it works between you.
11:55You can see that your friends first of all, but sometimes friendship doesn't make good music.
12:01Right.
12:01But, uh, for you, it, it works.
12:03So why, why does it work so, so well?
12:06I don't know.
12:07I think, you know, firstly, it's rare that I have that type of relationship.
12:18Like, where there's not, like, it's rare that I have that kind of chemistry with a man because I think,
12:25you know, for the most part.
12:27It's okay, it's okay.
12:27Okay.
12:29So I think men maybe more often find each other, um, you know, threatening.
12:39But because we do something so, so different and because we both just admire what the other one does in
12:46such a kind of, and it's in such a different lane.
12:49I mean, I think it's easy to just show each other complete support for that thing.
12:57And I haven't handed that much.
12:58I mean, I, I often give that to other people, other men, but I don't find that as much comes
13:04back the other way.
13:05I, I find, um, it, you know, I, I often find people don't give me that back.
13:15And I think Dave is so confident and so, uh, secure and so kind of, um, yeah, in his own,
13:27he, he's just so strong in what he does that, um, it works really well.
13:33And then also just our sense of humor, I mean, you know, I just, we just make each other laugh
13:38and, and we don't take ourselves ironically, even though both of us are probably considered quite self-serious musicians or
13:45artists, we don't, we don't actually take ourselves very seriously as people.
13:50You just said something interesting because I, I will go even further.
13:54I think sometimes people can see you as a very serious guy or even sad guy because of your music
14:02or because of some cliches that we can have about your music.
14:06Do you feel something that it was too reductive to just see you as a king of the melancholia or
14:12king of the sadness, but you can be, you are more than that.
14:15Well, I think people can't, people keep asking me boring and sad questions.
14:19So then I give boring and sad answers because I reflect their energy back at them and then they get
14:27the answer for the question they asked.
14:29You know, I can't make a question about depression funny.
14:31I mean, I can, I often do, but I don't want to, I don't want to like, if you're, if
14:37we're talking about men's mental health and it's like a serious issue or whatever, I can't, you know, I can't
14:43work with that.
14:44I mean, I, it's, there's not a huge amount of room for me to inject my own personality into, so
14:50to be honest, I don't think people have historically wanted to see my actual personality.
14:56I think they just want to hear a reflection of their own idea of, preexisting idea of what I am.
15:08Before, when I was preparing this interview, I was talking about you with a colleague of mine, Alexia, she's here
15:16somewhere.
15:17And we were talking about something because, you know, I think in the last decade, sad songs were also kind
15:24of trendy.
15:26You know, we had a lot of sadness or melancholia in pop music.
15:31Sometimes it was great.
15:31Sometimes it was kind of cliche and we're like, okay, maybe James Blake is the only one where we don't
15:39find that boring.
15:40Like it's never boring and it feels really authentic.
15:43Some people find it boring.
15:44I mean, I've seen people say it's boring.
15:46We don't.
15:47It's fine.
15:48I'm glad you don't.
15:48Yeah.
15:48And you can always be boring for some people.
15:53Did you, I'm sure you noticed that like sometimes it became a thing, like it became a trend.
15:59Maybe you were kind of at the origin of that.
16:03Maybe not the only one, but.
16:04I'm certain I wasn't the origin of sad songs, but I will, I'll take the compliment.
16:09I think.
16:11It's a compliment, but it's also an attack because because of you, we had a lot of bad sad songs.
16:17Yeah, I do.
16:18I'll, I'll take the, you know what?
16:21I won't take the responsibility for the good or the bad of those things.
16:26Yeah.
16:29Trending sad songwriting.
16:32Well, you know, there are people who vocalize it better than others.
16:39And it's like, there's always going to be music or landfill.
16:42Yeah.
16:43Uh, and we just have to choose for ourselves how we filter that out.
16:48It's becoming harder, obviously, because of, um, the amount of music that gets released.
16:53Yeah.
16:54Um, but maybe we're just seeing that people are actually secretly sadder than they say they are.
17:01Um, that's possible.
17:02And actually there's a reason there was a market for it.
17:05It's because people were listening to it.
17:06Yeah.
17:06So, um, I guess I'm overall glad that there was, um, that market demand was being met.
17:19I don't know.
17:20Is that, you know, sounds a bit corporate, but.
17:23Okay.
17:24Um, to be perfectly honest, I discovered you not with your first album, but your second album.
17:29Sorry.
17:29Yeah.
17:29And at this time I remember because I come from like a rap audience and a lot of rappers
17:36were talking about you.
17:37Even in France, I remember some of my friend rappers were like, yeah, you have to listen
17:41to Retrograde, this album by this guy.
17:44And so actually rap music, uh, was the music who brought your music to, to, to me.
17:49And you mentioned, because we are talking about Dave, um, several times where musicians called
17:55you to work with you, uh, from Kanye to Travis Scott to a lot of people, um, and a lot
18:02of
18:02people in rap music.
18:04Um, how do you explain that?
18:06What, because now it's been more than 10 years that you work with people from this genre.
18:11Mm-hmm.
18:13What do you think they are looking for when they call you?
18:17I think rap has historically been one of the most creative ever genres.
18:25I think it's, I think it's the place I've looked to for the most inspiring and interesting
18:33music production.
18:36Um, and I think that's what a lot of rap producers and rappers themselves are.
18:46are looking for when they stray away from the thing that, the, you know, the thing they
18:52do in house.
18:53Yeah.
18:53I think when, when they're looking for, you know, to, for another brush to use, I think
19:02sometimes I've been able to step in and fill that role.
19:05And I am grateful for that because it's put me in so many amazing collaborative situations.
19:10And, you know, I grew up listening to rap my, most of my life.
19:15So, you know, my first, um, I guess like first experience of rap really like a record I bought
19:24would have been the verses on voodoo.
19:30and then, you know, yeah.
19:33And then I think from there on that sort of like love for hip hop grew into something much
19:39more serious.
19:39And, and from, from, well, what the, the labels at the time called Neo soul.
19:45Exactly.
19:45Which wasn't, I wouldn't say a best description.
19:48And D'Angelo himself wasn't really comfortable with.
19:51No, yeah, exactly.
19:53So I, and I, and I see why, but I think the, um, that, that put me on a journey.
19:59So I think because I got into hip hop so young and my production was so influenced by it, it
20:07seemed like I wasn't a million miles away, but then I was at the same time.
20:12Um, and I had a huge amount of admiration and respect for the artists who I worked with.
20:18So I guess, you know, if you approach every situation with, um, humility and respect, then
20:26there's room for collaboration and exciting results.
20:30And that's, you know, I think we, I think some of the, I mean, some of the, like I did
20:35recently
20:36I did, um, a lot radio, uh, set and I, and I just played all the rap tunes that I've
20:43ever
20:43produced or like most of them, um, with a couple of R and B things in there as well.
20:49And it was one of the most satisfying sets I've done for a while because I got to hear
20:55the sort of the evolution of all the different ways that I produced.
21:00And, and it was, it was nice.
21:02It was like looking back through a photo album.
21:04Yeah.
21:05Um, so yeah.
21:07You're a producer.
21:08And it's funny because in your music, we can, sometimes your, your beats change.
21:13You have a lot of stuff that you put in one track sometimes.
21:18Um, who were the producers who inspired you the most?
21:21Because you just mentioned like the Neo Soul and there was JD, of course, who was also
21:27some, someone who was in between rap and electronic music and like, it was really a versatile
21:33producer.
21:33Um, yeah.
21:35Who were your inspirations when you starting to, to, to work with the machines?
21:41Um, Bangladesh.
21:44Yeah.
21:46Uh, Bangladesh was like one of the most influenced producers in the 2000s.
21:52Like the guy behind Amelie.
21:54One of the greatest.
21:55Yeah.
21:56Um, but it's nice that you mentioned him because it's not often mentioned now when we talk about
22:02the great, uh, the great producer and he was really, really, really big.
22:06I think if you played most of his, the songs he's produced, most people in the world, they'd
22:11understand, they'd understand, or they'd, they'd probably know the songs and they would.
22:15And if you, if you played them, all of the different beats he's made and all the different
22:20tracks he's produced, I think you could probably draw a through line.
22:24Most people would understand the through line and his sound and the way he used samples and
22:29and stuff.
22:30I mean, it's a huge, this is like, I could sit here for hours and talk about this.
22:35So, um, Missy.
22:38Yeah.
22:39Um, I think Missy Elliott is like, obviously she's not, I wouldn't say she's underrated.
22:45Well, I think maybe she is underrated actually.
22:47Maybe she is.
22:48Cause she's super famous and everyone loves the music, but, but in, but even then, I think
22:53in such a male dominated genre, maybe she didn't get the, I mean, I don't know if she, maybe
23:00she did, maybe she didn't, but it sounds, it seems like she doesn't have as much of the
23:05conversation around her actual production.
23:07And she was rapping and singing.
23:09And to be that talented.
23:10And now it's normal.
23:11performance too.
23:14Um, I'd say, uh, her, her, her sound choices are completely off the wall.
23:23They remind me of, um, in a way she sort of reminded me of early Wiley, you know, like
23:29Wiley production, like, um, Esky beats, you know, from an era where things were kind of
23:34done on like a, you know, like started with like music maker, 2000, PS, PS two, um, into
23:42like fruit, early fruit loops stuff.
23:45But like that, that Esky tie that time, um, and like Danny weed and these kinds of, I, I
23:53actually feel like Missy kind of reminds me that there's, I don't know where the commonality
23:57is there.
23:57Maybe, maybe there was influence there.
23:59I don't know.
23:59But to me, she sort of had that, like, what the hell is that sound type thing, right?
24:06We don't understand everything, but.
24:08Yeah.
24:09Like it, it works.
24:10We do, it's fun and it works.
24:12And that playfulness that she had and has, um, I think got lost in a lot of production
24:20later on.
24:22Um, not just in hip hop, but in general, like not, no one, not many people have come along
24:27and been as fun as Missy Elliott.
24:30Do you think what you just say, like being fun in music, in production, do you think it's
24:36something that is less and less present now?
24:39Maybe it's hard to be fun or to be really out of the box because of, I don't know, algorithm
24:45and stuff like that.
24:46Do you think it's more complicated than it was 20 years ago or 30 years ago?
24:50Yeah, I think there's a, there's a freedom potentially that's been lost a little bit
24:54in, in production.
24:56Certainly.
24:56And, you know, I, I struggle with that.
24:59Like, I, I wonder if, I wonder if we've been led into a sort of self seriousness.
25:07Um, maybe it's, I don't know.
25:10It's, you know, in dance music, we talk about like the, like underground dance music.
25:15You talk about the kind of drugs of the, each genre, the, the, the, the drugs associated
25:20with each, um, era.
25:23So, you know, like whether it's ketamine or it's like whatever, it's like all these different
25:28drugs are associated with certain eras of dance music.
25:31And I think there's probably something sociopolitical in the air that affects, obviously, I mean,
25:37obviously affects the way we make music and artists are reacting to what's happening.
25:41and, um, yeah, like, does it seem like a song like, you know, or production that's as fun
25:50as Missy Elliott would make sense now?
25:53I don't know.
25:53I mean, is, is it, does it feel fun right now?
25:56I'm not sure.
25:57Um, the nineties was a different time.
25:59Yeah.
26:00I do sort of remember it, but yeah.
26:02So there's, there's Missy, um, obviously Pharrell, uh, you know, I've worked with Metro
26:10a fair amount, um, Metro has something quite special about him.
26:14I think there's a lot more, um, but it, it would be a much longer conversation if I was
26:21to really get into it.
26:22It's another, it's another podcast that we could do.
26:24Yeah, yeah, yeah.
26:25Um, there's something I think very important also when we love music is your voice.
26:29And when you start, I think you courage me if I'm wrong, but when you started to just
26:35to do music, you didn't really think it came afterwards.
26:38Yeah.
26:39Um, when did you realize that you had something special and that you could also sing because
26:45you have an unconventional voice.
26:47It's not, yeah, really the voice of everyone, even in like singers, no, it's special.
26:54So when did you realize that?
26:55And when did you feel comfortable with using it and playing with it?
26:59Well, I think a voice is, um, I don't think you just have a voice.
27:06I think you work on a voice.
27:08You don't think it's, uh, just a gift that nature gives you?
27:11No, I don't.
27:13I think, I think the gift you're given is your access to source.
27:20And by that, I mean a spiritual access.
27:24I think that's the gift you have.
27:25And I think everyone has it and how you access that is, you know, everyone's different, but
27:31I think the voice in, and this is a working theory, but you know, I could be totally wrong.
27:40This is how I feel is that the voice is as we get older, you know, into our sort of
27:48mid
27:48twenties or, you know, early thirties or something.
27:52You're, cause the voice is a, is a physical resonance of your skull, right?
27:57It's like, it's, it's your vocal cords.
27:59It's your, it's your whole, everything's your diaphragms, everything.
28:02But I think the way you refine your voice and change the tone of your voice over time
28:08and find your voice, right?
28:12Is a reaction to the message you're trying to deliver.
28:18And I think you've discovered more and more what that message, what that message is as
28:24you get older.
28:26And so your whole physiology, I think is changing to support the message that's being given to
28:35you.
28:36And that's how the voice, in my opinion, develops.
28:39Okay.
28:39Um, so I don't think it's, you know, I, I think we have to practice, we have to like encourage
28:47it to come through us, but it's not, you don't, you're not born with a, with a, I mean,
28:53I sounded, you know, I just, I just sounded like shit when I first started.
28:58I mean, it's just, it's, it's, I didn't know what I was trying to say.
29:01I didn't know why I just wanted to sing.
29:02I just enjoyed singing.
29:03So that's what I did.
29:05But I didn't, I didn't sound, it's not like, you know, it's like, like I sound the way I
29:09do now when I was 10, you know.
29:11So you say, okay, we have to work our voice, but like, do you believe in, in genius?
29:16Or do you think we, I know you're one of your heroes if you're on there.
29:21Yeah.
29:21And of course, and don't you think he was born with little bits more than just us?
29:30Maybe not you, but just, you know, like, because do you believe in, in true genius?
29:34Or do you think it's always a matter of work?
29:37Well, genius is a word that is almost always applied to men.
29:41So I don't know if it's actually a, I've never really understood the word.
29:46I don't really, I don't really get it as a, as an applied word.
29:51Don't really get it.
29:52Okay.
29:53I see when people are really good at things and I, I can see they've usually put a huge
29:59amount of time into them, but it feels like in, in my experience, it's felt like a justification
30:05for terrible behavior.
30:07Okay.
30:09Okay.
30:09If you're genius, so yeah, do that.
30:11So leave him alone or, you know, usually him, right?
30:13Yeah.
30:14So leave, leave, leave him alone and just allow all manners of like terrible shit to develop
30:22while they're never held accountable.
30:25That's why, that's where, when I see the word genius, that's, that's what I always think.
30:31Um, and, um, you know, like, oh, it doesn't matter that he didn't text me back cause he's
30:36a genius.
30:37You know, it doesn't matter that blah, blah, blah, cause he's a genius.
30:39It's just like, I just, my, my association with the word genius has always been fairly
30:44like that.
30:45It's a negative, it's almost, I see it as kind of negative.
30:48Yeah.
30:48I sort of see it as negative.
30:49And I, and I think a lot of people who've been prescribed the word genius have ended
30:53up kind of, um, really falling off and becoming insane because they're never held accountable
31:02and they're never really like held to the same standards as everybody else.
31:08Um, but I do think some people probably have, they, they sort of come prepared spiritually
31:18maybe like with a, an inclination or a leaning towards something.
31:23And if they get the right environment and they're encouraged, then I think they can realize
31:28their potential.
31:29But I do think there's a lot of untapped potential sitting, uh, within people who, who maybe
31:37haven't had the right encouragement or, or, or circumstances.
31:41Um, and sometimes it doesn't matter how much of a genius somebody might call you later.
31:47If, you know, you don't get those beginnings, then, then it's, um, then, uh, it, it's never
31:54allowed to flower.
31:56Um, so yeah.
31:59With the success and, uh, and everything that came up in your career over the last 15 years,
32:05um, was it important for you to always have a good behavior?
32:11Like, is it something that you have in mind?
32:13Because, you know, we, we can sometimes, uh, act wrong and stuff like that.
32:18Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course.
32:18And maybe even more when we, you know, have access to a lot of stuff, I don't know.
32:23Is it something that you have in mind to always maybe be, you're a good guy?
32:28I don't really have to think about whether I'm good or bad.
32:31I just think you just sort of, you, you are because of your, you know, I mean, I think
32:39we, it's like, we've got the, the, the private smaller journey and then we've got the overarching
32:46lesson and like whether we're learning it or not.
32:49And, um, there's certainly been some lessons that have taken me a long time to learn, but
32:53I think, no, I think, um, you know, I moved to Los Angeles for 10 years.
32:58Like I can, I know what temptation, uh, excess and kind of, um, a corrupt value system looks
33:10like, you know, and I've certainly wrestled with it myself and it's just, yeah, you put
33:18like an artist who's traditionally like sensitive and you stick them in this situation where
33:23they're totally not unemotionally, emotionally unequipped, then yeah, it's, it's not a, it's
33:29not an easy maze to get out of, but, um, so yeah, I guess I'm not really sure if I've
33:37answered the question or not.
33:37Yes, you, you did it.
33:39On this new album, the first track was Death of Love, is Death of Love, like the first
33:42single that you, you put out.
33:44Um, why did you came back with this track particularly?
33:50Is it like for you, like the, some, some, something that can summarize the album?
33:55No, I think it summarized the moment in time when it came out and the feeling in the air
34:03and, and I guess it has done for quite a long time, but for me, I think it summarized it
34:10for me. Um, and I think it was the most sort of James Blakey track I could, I could put
34:19out
34:19on, you know, so that's something that people would feel familiar with.
34:23Yeah.
34:24Um, and enjoy that kind of like in the, the vocal, like the vocal playfulness and the, and
34:31the beat and the kind of like, yeah. And it prepares you for other moments on this album
34:36too. Like there are other moments, um, I'm thinking of the one with Dave, um, there's
34:41a couple of other moments that really stand out as kind of like along that, like lineage.
34:47But yeah, I just felt, you know, it's the beginning, it was the beginning of the year.
34:52Everything was still a bit dark. The, the, the, you know, the news is dark and we're just
34:59like the album starts kind of pessimistic or it starts very like aggressively. And then
35:09it starts quite, um, it's vibrant, but, but it's, but it's, but it's quite dark. And then
35:15it slowly becomes more and more optimistic and then hopeful and then joyful and then, and
35:24spiritually, you know, spiritually open. And I think I wanted to start people off where
35:30the album basically starts. And then the singles have kind of followed the actual path of the
35:38album rather than just being like, here's the song that's going to get the most plays
35:43or whatever. And then just put that out first. Uh, because that's not really an art. That's
35:48not really a, I'm not sure that would help people understand the album. I want people to
35:52really actually listen to the album, not, not, you know, just kind of, this is a very
35:57interesting topic because, um, I grew up with albums. I think you too, and you, you
36:03really think albums and I'm really, it's a question, it's an open question. And I'm
36:08always asking this question to myself, like, do albums, are they still relevant today because
36:14of all the way people, uh, consume, sorry for the word music, um, or no. And they do play,
36:22they make playlists and it's okay. And we grew up with albums because it was another
36:25time. Maybe it's not relevant anymore. And I don't want to, because I'm still
36:31attached to albums, but I'm thinking about people who didn't grew up with that. Um, is
36:36it really relevant for them? And for you as an artist who are always really making
36:41albums and syncing albums, like you just explained with, from, with the beginning
36:46and the, and, and, and how do you cope with our stuff evolve? Because maybe it's a format
36:54from an ocean time, you know? Yeah. I mean, it is a format from another time really. Um, but
37:02that's only because of the way music is delivered. I mean, if you buy the vinyl, then that's how
37:09you'll experience it. So. Is it how you want to, you want people to buy your vinyl more
37:15than listening to the platforms or stuff like that? I think it's, I think you'll have a better
37:19experience. I mean, I know it's more expensive. So if that's not an option, then I think people
37:27still get a lot of joy out of the streaming streaming. Um, but in terms of what you're getting
37:33for your money, like in terms of the value of having all the music that's ever existed
37:41on this disconnected, incredibly impersonal, uh, delivery service, um, I think what you pay
37:49is probably roughly what you get. Yeah. So you just say that maybe Death of Love was the
37:55most James Blake song for, from the album. Um, when you have a style, like a James Blake
38:03song, is it scary sometimes to just maybe say, okay, it's, it's comforting for a lot of
38:09people, but maybe I can also be trapped in my own style that I created, but how do you
38:15manage that between no this? Okay. I like to do that. And people love to hear me like that,
38:21but also it, it can also be routine maybe. Yeah. Um, I feel, yeah, that's a, I do sometimes
38:31feel trapped in that. Yeah. Um, I mean, you know, trying times the song is very different
38:39from anything I've done before. It it's, you know, firstly, it's a completely analog recording
38:46with a band, which I haven't really done on a record before. Uh, unless it's been like
38:53just me and a guitar. Um, but almost everything I've ever done has had an electronic tint and
38:59this doesn't at all. Um, although there is that sample, which kind of brings it, you
39:05know, it kind of keeps it like sugary a little bit, I guess I sometimes feel it, but when
39:11it comes to actually putting music out, like this album does sound pretty different from
39:16other things I've done and I feel very confident with it. And I think people will just, they'll
39:21just accept it. I don't, and if they don't, then that's fine as well. But I, I think most
39:25people will cause it, it's, it's, it's, there's enough kind of, there's enough familiarity that
39:33I don't think it would, but yeah. Um, I think we're done. I still have six pages of questions,
39:39but you can go for another one. No, no, no. I think we have, I think you have, you have
39:43stuff to do. Well, you've been great. I have maybe a last question. Sure. Uh, just about
39:47music because I know you are a Studio Wonder fan. I always, what's your favorite
39:51Studio Wonder album? Fulfilling this first finale, I think. Okay. Yeah. That one just
39:58breaks me. Uh, I mean, there's no bad answer. Talking about there, there isn't a bad answer
40:04really. Yeah. Okay. No. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. Thank you.
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