WEBVTT - James Blake 0:00:15.476 --> 0:00:15.956 Pushkin. 0:00:20.596 --> 0:00:23.716 Since making his major label debut in twenty eleven, James 0:00:23.796 --> 0:00:26.796 Blake has become one of the most distinctive voices in 0:00:26.876 --> 0:00:32.196 pop music. His gorgeous, haunting vocals in brilliantly edited collage 0:00:32.196 --> 0:00:35.196 style tracks have helped usher in a new sound in 0:00:35.276 --> 0:00:39.396 popular music. James is both produced and contributed vocals to 0:00:39.556 --> 0:00:43.716 artists like Travis Scott, Jay Z, and Spanish megastar Rosalia. 0:00:44.636 --> 0:00:47.676 He even earned a Grammy for Best Rap Performance alongside 0:00:47.716 --> 0:00:51.556 Kendrick Lamar, Jay Rock, and Future on the song King's 0:00:51.636 --> 0:00:55.996 Dead from the Black Panther soundtrack. This month, James is 0:00:56.036 --> 0:00:59.196 releasing his sixth solo album, which is a nod to 0:00:59.236 --> 0:01:03.356 his electronic music roots. It's called Playing Robots Into Heaven, 0:01:04.236 --> 0:01:07.516 a title inspired by the modular synth James built for 0:01:07.556 --> 0:01:10.876 the album that creates sounds meant to evoke a spiritual 0:01:10.916 --> 0:01:16.076 experience conjured by machines. It's a heady concept that translates 0:01:16.076 --> 0:01:19.836 into some of the most heartfelt and energized tracks James 0:01:19.836 --> 0:01:23.436 has made to date. On today's episode, Lea Rose talks 0:01:23.436 --> 0:01:26.876 to James Blake about how he and his longtime collaborator 0:01:26.996 --> 0:01:31.596 Dom Maker constructed key tracks on this new album. James 0:01:31.636 --> 0:01:35.276 also recalls how a conversation with Rick Rubin changed his 0:01:35.356 --> 0:01:38.916 life and reveals how he spent months making new music 0:01:38.956 --> 0:01:42.676 with Andre three thousand, only to learn on this podcast 0:01:42.876 --> 0:01:49.436 that it may never be released. This is Broken Record 0:01:49.796 --> 0:01:51.396 liner notes for the digital Age. 0:01:51.596 --> 0:01:52.516 I'm justin Mitchman. 0:01:53.396 --> 0:01:55.676 Here's Lea Rose with James Blake. 0:01:56.996 --> 0:01:59.156 Do you remember last time you were on Broken Record 0:01:59.156 --> 0:02:01.556 and it was in twenty twenty and you spoke to Rick. 0:02:02.316 --> 0:02:04.596 Do you remember what Rick said to you about the 0:02:04.596 --> 0:02:05.796 first time you heard your music? 0:02:06.076 --> 0:02:08.236 You know what, No, I don't. What did he say? Oh? 0:02:09.116 --> 0:02:10.836 I remember a lot about working with Rick, but I 0:02:10.836 --> 0:02:11.476 don't remember that. 0:02:11.916 --> 0:02:14.956 I was hoping you would remember this. So I'm curious 0:02:14.996 --> 0:02:17.956 about this because I know we tend to remember sometimes 0:02:17.996 --> 0:02:22.796 more negative rather than positive things. He told you that 0:02:22.916 --> 0:02:25.876 when he first heard your music, he hadn't been introduced 0:02:25.916 --> 0:02:29.276 to any new music that he liked more than your music. 0:02:29.876 --> 0:02:33.596 Oh that's amazing. Yeah, my head's increasing in size as 0:02:33.596 --> 0:02:34.036 we speak. 0:02:36.436 --> 0:02:39.076 What did you take away from from working with Rick 0:02:39.236 --> 0:02:40.116 for your third album? 0:02:40.796 --> 0:02:45.436 Yeah, well, I remember. I remember Rick was sort of 0:02:45.436 --> 0:02:48.956 came into my life at a very tumultuous point, you know, 0:02:49.036 --> 0:02:52.636 I was deep in mental health struggles, shall we say, 0:02:53.316 --> 0:02:57.196 and kept fucking up my relationship. I just wasn't in 0:02:57.236 --> 0:03:00.676 a state of coherency, you know. I was just in 0:03:00.716 --> 0:03:06.516 a very incoherent state, and I was looking to any Honestly, 0:03:06.956 --> 0:03:10.876 I was looking for maybe an answer in the music, maybe, 0:03:10.916 --> 0:03:12.676 but I you know, I knew it wasn't going to 0:03:12.716 --> 0:03:16.596 be there. And Rick was actually really helpful at that 0:03:16.716 --> 0:03:21.076 time because you know, being English growing up, we learned 0:03:21.076 --> 0:03:23.316 to speak a certain way, you know, and I learned 0:03:23.316 --> 0:03:25.516 to speak a certain way, and it was very accusatory, 0:03:25.956 --> 0:03:27.356 you know. If you had a problem with someone, it 0:03:27.396 --> 0:03:28.956 was like you've done this to me, you did that. 0:03:29.076 --> 0:03:31.516 But you know, we didn't. We weren't taught. Like when 0:03:31.556 --> 0:03:35.036 I came to California and people were speaking like this, 0:03:35.116 --> 0:03:37.516 they were going, well, I just feel that, you know, 0:03:37.836 --> 0:03:40.276 the way you did that made me feel like this, 0:03:41.116 --> 0:03:44.316 and I feel this way, you know. So we didn't 0:03:44.356 --> 0:03:47.276 do that. We just had to go at each other. 0:03:48.316 --> 0:03:52.796 So so in my relationships, that would take form of 0:03:53.356 --> 0:03:57.676 just pushing people away quite easily. If I became frustrated 0:03:57.796 --> 0:03:59.796 or whatever, I just kind of say something that would 0:03:59.836 --> 0:04:04.356 be too spiky and kind of ultimately not serve the 0:04:05.156 --> 0:04:08.716 situations not served like me or them and our relationship. 0:04:08.716 --> 0:04:12.356 And so Rick showed me and I told him about this, 0:04:12.396 --> 0:04:14.436 and I said, you know, I just it feels like 0:04:14.476 --> 0:04:16.356 every time we have an argument or something like that, 0:04:16.396 --> 0:04:18.796 I say something and I just suck it up. And 0:04:18.836 --> 0:04:21.276 he just said, check this out, and he showed me 0:04:21.836 --> 0:04:25.436 this book called Non Violent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg, which 0:04:26.916 --> 0:04:31.636 completely changed my life because I until that point hadn't 0:04:31.756 --> 0:04:39.636 learned to convey my actual needs without being accusatory, yeah, 0:04:39.676 --> 0:04:44.956 and using accusatory language. I hadn't ever used nonviolent language 0:04:44.956 --> 0:04:47.956 in that way. For anyone listening. Non violent language doesn't 0:04:47.996 --> 0:04:50.876 mean that, you know, violent language could be could be 0:04:50.876 --> 0:04:54.076 described as something like, yeah, like what I was saying earlier, 0:04:54.076 --> 0:04:57.596 you know you did this, you shouldn't, you mustn't, you know, 0:04:57.756 --> 0:05:01.596 stuff like that, kind of taking ownership of somebody's behavior 0:05:01.636 --> 0:05:03.956 for them in a way and trying to control it. 0:05:04.036 --> 0:05:09.756 And actually it was an interesting lesson in blaming your 0:05:09.836 --> 0:05:13.436 needs so that everybody in the room realizes they have 0:05:13.476 --> 0:05:17.396 the same needs and that we can meet each other's 0:05:17.436 --> 0:05:22.036 needs all we can't, you know, And that's the that's 0:05:22.076 --> 0:05:28.556 the decision. Rather than having these huge emotional kind of tantrums. 0:05:28.996 --> 0:05:31.196 Did it change the way that you thought about things 0:05:31.196 --> 0:05:33.956 that had happened to you in your past? Does it 0:05:34.036 --> 0:05:37.356 take the blame away for situations if somebody you know. 0:05:37.756 --> 0:05:40.196 Yeah, well, I think what it is it gave me. 0:05:40.676 --> 0:05:47.756 It equipped me to go forward in peace in every situation, 0:05:47.876 --> 0:05:51.916 regardless of if I was hurt, which was alien to 0:05:51.956 --> 0:05:54.556 me previously, you know, and that just helped in all 0:05:54.556 --> 0:05:57.476 my friendships and all my all my relationships really and 0:05:58.476 --> 0:06:00.076 you know, that was a thing we talked about and 0:06:00.276 --> 0:06:02.596 I think that Rick had learned from too, And like, 0:06:03.476 --> 0:06:05.996 I think that was probably the best thing that came 0:06:06.036 --> 0:06:09.756 out of that out of that session. Because the album's great, 0:06:09.916 --> 0:06:11.996 Like I love it and I'm proud of it, and 0:06:12.076 --> 0:06:16.116 Rick was great on the album, But the album didn't 0:06:16.156 --> 0:06:20.076 change my life. Yeah, that sit down for like twenty 0:06:20.116 --> 0:06:21.196 minutes change my life. 0:06:21.676 --> 0:06:24.276 So working with him there was there was actually time 0:06:24.316 --> 0:06:27.436 to have a deep personal conversation. It wasn't just all 0:06:27.516 --> 0:06:30.996 work all day every day. There was time to just. 0:06:30.996 --> 0:06:32.916 Yeah, we did a lot of speaking. Yeah, we did 0:06:32.916 --> 0:06:34.196 a lot of speaking. I mean I was there for 0:06:34.236 --> 0:06:37.796 like three months, so it was a long time, you know, 0:06:37.836 --> 0:06:41.316 And I was staying at Shangri La, so there was 0:06:41.356 --> 0:06:43.636 a lot of time to kind of and he would come, 0:06:43.836 --> 0:06:47.836 come in about twelve, leave about seven. Yeah on the dot, 0:06:47.956 --> 0:06:52.076 by the way, like never never missed dinner for any idea, 0:06:52.476 --> 0:06:56.236 no matter how explosive an idea sounded like it was 0:06:56.276 --> 0:06:58.956 going to become. He was out at seven. 0:06:59.316 --> 0:07:01.676 Did that make you sort of like panic as an artist, like, 0:07:01.676 --> 0:07:03.996 oh no, we got to eight o'clock. 0:07:04.996 --> 0:07:07.116 No. What it did is it taught me that as 0:07:07.116 --> 0:07:08.876 a producer, I didn't I don't need to just sit 0:07:08.876 --> 0:07:11.436 around and in a studio waiting for shit. And that 0:07:11.596 --> 0:07:15.636 is actually good to set those boundaries because otherwise, like 0:07:16.196 --> 0:07:17.756 you know, I have to spend a lot of time 0:07:17.796 --> 0:07:22.156 as a producer kind of just resenting the amount of 0:07:22.156 --> 0:07:26.276 time I'm spending somewhere in like a room full of 0:07:26.276 --> 0:07:29.036 people that I don't really want to be around, and 0:07:29.916 --> 0:07:34.276 just you know, not taking ownership of that. I can 0:07:34.436 --> 0:07:37.796 the fact that I can leave, and I started to 0:07:38.236 --> 0:07:42.356 I started to just leave. And what was it that 0:07:42.716 --> 0:07:44.676 Shark Tank guy said? He was like, I don't hire 0:07:44.716 --> 0:07:47.436 the guy who works seven days a week. I hire 0:07:47.476 --> 0:07:49.956 the guy who goes and does golf on the weekends. 0:07:50.396 --> 0:07:53.036 So it's like at least the person who takes a 0:07:53.036 --> 0:07:56.996 break comes back fresh. I'd come back fresh to sessions 0:07:57.036 --> 0:07:59.916 and feel like I could give people my best, which 0:07:59.916 --> 0:08:02.556 is what Rick was doing. Yeah, I just didn't understand 0:08:02.556 --> 0:08:04.236 it at the time. At the time I was probably did. 0:08:04.476 --> 0:08:07.596 I probably did say like wait what we was just 0:08:07.636 --> 0:08:11.276 started to sing, you know why? But no, I was 0:08:11.596 --> 0:08:14.196 I was like twenty twenty five or twenty six, So 0:08:14.196 --> 0:08:17.476 I didn't really understand the idea of boundary setting totally. 0:08:17.516 --> 0:08:18.796 I was going to say it seems like a very 0:08:18.836 --> 0:08:20.076 mature approach to work. 0:08:20.476 --> 0:08:23.956 Definitely, definitely, And I'm sure Rick has acquired that by 0:08:24.956 --> 0:08:27.036 you know, doing the same thing I was, you know, 0:08:27.396 --> 0:08:32.276 just spending long days and nights in dark studios with 0:08:32.356 --> 0:08:33.676 no windows. You know. Yeah. 0:08:33.676 --> 0:08:35.396 I don't think he was leaving at seven when he 0:08:35.436 --> 0:08:36.956 was working with the Beastie Boys. 0:08:37.036 --> 0:08:37.476 Doubt it. 0:08:37.836 --> 0:08:42.116 Yeah, what is your schedule your working schedule, like like 0:08:42.156 --> 0:08:45.116 with this new album, do you have clear set hours 0:08:45.476 --> 0:08:48.116 every single day? Do you have like a schedule you 0:08:48.156 --> 0:08:48.556 stick to? 0:08:49.116 --> 0:08:52.316 You know what, I could stit to a better sort 0:08:52.316 --> 0:08:55.916 of more ridges schedule. I try and start around eleven 0:08:55.956 --> 0:09:00.396 and I like to do the kind of functional finishing 0:09:00.436 --> 0:09:03.076 of music in the daytime, and I like to do 0:09:03.116 --> 0:09:07.596 the actual kind of creative spark stuff after seven pm. 0:09:08.196 --> 0:09:13.116 Okay, so after seven pm would be new ideas, trying 0:09:13.156 --> 0:09:14.156 things out. 0:09:15.076 --> 0:09:17.836 I think it's as you get closer to the witching hour, 0:09:18.236 --> 0:09:23.396 it just becomes more and more inspiring. I think, you know, yeah, 0:09:24.156 --> 0:09:27.916 seven is actually pretty far. I mean, really the some 0:09:27.996 --> 0:09:32.116 of the greatest ideas come at like three in the morning. 0:09:32.196 --> 0:09:34.756 But it's just not really practical to live like that 0:09:34.796 --> 0:09:35.436 all the time for. 0:09:35.436 --> 0:09:38.116 Me, do you ever get haunted by ideas? Do you 0:09:38.156 --> 0:09:41.556 get woken up and have to immediately record something? 0:09:42.316 --> 0:09:46.116 Yeah? So the best songs I've written, probably so far, 0:09:46.276 --> 0:09:48.276 came at around three or four, and they were written 0:09:48.676 --> 0:09:51.316 in the middle of the night, which was retrograde and 0:09:51.356 --> 0:09:55.076 You're too precious. They're two of my favorites. I think 0:09:56.036 --> 0:09:58.956 other times I get it right in the daytime, and 0:09:59.076 --> 0:10:02.836 sometimes it's like, you know, eight nine, whatever. But I 0:10:02.876 --> 0:10:04.996 do think there's something special about those hours. I think 0:10:05.036 --> 0:10:08.196 it's just a sort of spiritual clarity that I think 0:10:08.316 --> 0:10:10.236 is hard to find and elsewhere. 0:10:11.036 --> 0:10:12.916 Do you think it's because the mind is quiet and 0:10:12.956 --> 0:10:16.676 the world is more quiet and other things can sprout up. 0:10:17.316 --> 0:10:21.476 Yeah, I mean without sort of going all the way 0:10:21.516 --> 0:10:25.796 woo woo. I think it's like the the channels are 0:10:25.876 --> 0:10:29.116 kind of they're more open, and they're less interfered with 0:10:29.756 --> 0:10:34.436 by outside influence. It's like, you know, it's like when 0:10:34.476 --> 0:10:37.756 you're in a house that's got like three WiFi routers. 0:10:38.636 --> 0:10:41.396 Some people are very sensitive to Wi Fi. Then they 0:10:41.396 --> 0:10:43.276 can feel it. You know. It's like it's a bit 0:10:43.356 --> 0:10:45.876 like that. It's like, can you feel it? I can 0:10:45.916 --> 0:10:50.116 feel electromagnetic stuff. I think like if I'm in a 0:10:50.196 --> 0:10:53.276 room and it's just got lots of you know, emf 0:10:53.796 --> 0:10:56.756 then yeah, wow. We don't really think about it, but 0:10:56.796 --> 0:11:00.316 I think that, you know, it's feasible that in thirty 0:11:00.356 --> 0:11:02.916 or forty years time we look back at all those 0:11:02.916 --> 0:11:05.356 signals as some kind of smoking. 0:11:06.036 --> 0:11:08.516 Very true with the new album. Let's talk about the 0:11:08.596 --> 0:11:11.996 new album. I saw that you released Loading today. 0:11:12.476 --> 0:11:12.916 Yeah. 0:11:13.316 --> 0:11:14.956 I love Loading so much. 0:11:15.516 --> 0:11:15.876 Thank you. 0:11:16.236 --> 0:11:19.076 It's such an excellent song, and I was hoping you 0:11:19.116 --> 0:11:21.916 could sort of walk us through the architecture of the 0:11:21.996 --> 0:11:24.996 song and how you put it together, because there's some 0:11:25.036 --> 0:11:28.756 really interesting choices you made, and certain things seem almost 0:11:28.756 --> 0:11:30.636 at odds with each other. But I'd love to hear 0:11:31.076 --> 0:11:31.796 you describe it. 0:11:32.356 --> 0:11:37.036 Yeah, it started with Dom bringing in a sam I 0:11:37.036 --> 0:11:39.876 think it was something he actually wrote and played, which 0:11:39.916 --> 0:11:42.756 is those kind of French horns at the beginning, and 0:11:42.836 --> 0:11:45.836 he had the sample on it that went, you know, 0:11:45.876 --> 0:11:51.836 the little poetry sample m and I wrote the wherever 0:11:51.876 --> 0:11:56.476 I Go kind of melody over that, but I wrote 0:11:56.476 --> 0:11:59.716 it at the original pitch, and then in order to 0:11:59.796 --> 0:12:02.196 create what I realized is that if I just the 0:12:02.236 --> 0:12:05.996 way the melody worked, it could be pitched up and 0:12:06.036 --> 0:12:09.116 basically not need to be altered too much to create 0:12:09.956 --> 0:12:13.956 kind of a cascading or a falling melody all the 0:12:13.956 --> 0:12:16.836 way down. So if you start with the pitched up one, 0:12:16.876 --> 0:12:18.116 then you can go all the way down to the 0:12:18.836 --> 0:12:21.476 natural pitch. And once I've done that, it kind of 0:12:21.516 --> 0:12:23.396 just wrote itself. Really. It was just you know. Then 0:12:23.436 --> 0:12:27.196 it was a matter of adding a beat and playing 0:12:27.236 --> 0:12:31.556 synths underneath the vocals to try and kind of recontextualize 0:12:31.596 --> 0:12:36.356 it outside of the corn sample. And then I started 0:12:36.396 --> 0:12:41.236 adding kind of more like ancillary, like the crazier sense 0:12:41.276 --> 0:12:46.716 that go on later on. There's some funny vocal glitches 0:12:46.756 --> 0:12:49.156 that were happening that I left it about that. 0:12:49.316 --> 0:12:51.276 Yeah, So was that an accident. 0:12:51.636 --> 0:12:54.436 It was a happy accident, It was. I think it's 0:12:54.476 --> 0:12:59.716 a bug in flex pitch in logic. Logic's a great program, 0:12:59.756 --> 0:13:03.876 but it does have some kind of quirky bugs and 0:13:04.756 --> 0:13:08.836 things that aren't quite working as intended sometimes. And actually 0:13:09.196 --> 0:13:11.756 depending on what setting you have the kind of flex 0:13:11.796 --> 0:13:15.516 pitch too, whether it's monophonic or polyphonic, it behaves differently. 0:13:16.156 --> 0:13:17.876 And I think in this case it was polyphonic, and 0:13:17.916 --> 0:13:21.156 it kind of it was hearing something in the background, 0:13:21.236 --> 0:13:24.116 maybe the way it like picks up on the transience 0:13:24.156 --> 0:13:28.756 of the vocal. It just freaked out and did this 0:13:29.356 --> 0:13:33.716 strange sound, which I love. Yeah, I love it, and 0:13:34.036 --> 0:13:36.436 so I left it in. Yeah, there are some things 0:13:36.436 --> 0:13:40.156 that are just happy accidents like that that to me 0:13:40.276 --> 0:13:43.276 become Yeah, they just kind of become fabric of the track. 0:13:43.596 --> 0:13:46.316 And then for a long time, the beaches wasn't hitting 0:13:46.356 --> 0:13:48.316 and I just couldn't really figure it out. So me 0:13:48.396 --> 0:13:52.836 and me and Rob from my band Rob Airhead, when 0:13:52.876 --> 0:13:55.676 we were looking for drum machines that could could hit 0:13:55.676 --> 0:13:59.116 a little bit harder than whatever I'd programmed in the box, 0:13:59.156 --> 0:14:01.356 and we had this sitting here, which is the dram 0:14:01.476 --> 0:14:05.036 x alpha bass and also the pulsar which you should 0:14:05.076 --> 0:14:10.436 be able to the blue thing there, and just jammed 0:14:10.916 --> 0:14:14.156 over it until I found the right drum sounds on 0:14:14.236 --> 0:14:16.876 the TRS the role in TRS, So yeah, just a 0:14:16.876 --> 0:14:18.876 bunch of analg drum machines to kind of like thicken 0:14:18.916 --> 0:14:19.196 it up. 0:14:19.836 --> 0:14:21.076 The percussions super cool. 0:14:21.436 --> 0:14:23.876 Yeah, the percussions quite unique. I mean it doesn't really 0:14:24.676 --> 0:14:28.396 it's not exactly like a sort of trad house beat 0:14:28.596 --> 0:14:32.996 or whatever. There's a lot of claves and funny. Yeah, 0:14:33.196 --> 0:14:35.956 it sounded good in the club and I just kept 0:14:35.956 --> 0:14:37.956 playing it and then I kept kind of tweaking it 0:14:38.196 --> 0:14:40.316 until the version that you hear now. 0:14:41.196 --> 0:14:43.396 Very cool. So when you are playing something for the 0:14:43.396 --> 0:14:46.876 first time, what do you base the effectiveness of the 0:14:46.956 --> 0:14:49.516 song on? Do you base it on people's reaction to 0:14:49.556 --> 0:14:51.916 it or just how it sounds in the room to you. 0:14:52.596 --> 0:14:55.076 It's interesting. There's like a magic that happens when a 0:14:55.156 --> 0:14:59.196 tune's hitting that you can't really describe. It's like there's 0:14:59.236 --> 0:15:02.956 a rush of like, oh that worked, you know, Like 0:15:03.276 --> 0:15:08.356 it's hard. It's really it is hard to explain. It's 0:15:08.396 --> 0:15:12.036 like tracks either a magic or they don't. Yeah, you know, 0:15:12.076 --> 0:15:14.996 There are some tracks that when I play them to people, 0:15:15.916 --> 0:15:17.796 like the whole room like gets out of their seat. 0:15:18.396 --> 0:15:20.756 You can see it in people's body language, you know. 0:15:20.796 --> 0:15:24.556 It's like they start to be intrigued or interested, you know, 0:15:24.596 --> 0:15:27.676 and then they might start moving or they just they 0:15:27.716 --> 0:15:32.276 just get up because they can't help themselves. And you'll 0:15:32.316 --> 0:15:36.236 hear comments like this is the one, or like, you know, 0:15:36.236 --> 0:15:38.876 it's like people just playing it to a broad enough 0:15:38.996 --> 0:15:42.516 range of people. And the tracks I tend to can 0:15:43.036 --> 0:15:46.476 are the ones that never really quite get the reaction 0:15:46.556 --> 0:15:51.276 I was looking for, never really quite hit the emotional peak. 0:15:52.276 --> 0:15:54.556 And I think it's a chemistry thing between the drums 0:15:54.556 --> 0:15:57.636 and the synse and whatever, but it's the overall impression. 0:15:57.676 --> 0:16:01.796 If the overall impression just feels high, it's like a 0:16:01.876 --> 0:16:04.596 vibration thing, you know, like coming back to the California 0:16:04.596 --> 0:16:08.436 and speak high vibration or low vibration. You know, it's like, 0:16:08.996 --> 0:16:12.836 is it uplifting you in some way? It doesn't necessarily 0:16:12.836 --> 0:16:16.116 need to be happy. Yeah, it's like this. This track 0:16:16.156 --> 0:16:20.036 relies on a kind of a kind of juxtaposition between 0:16:20.036 --> 0:16:23.676 these kind of quite sad chords, yes, and actually a 0:16:23.756 --> 0:16:27.556 melody that well a lyric that is basically saying I'm 0:16:27.636 --> 0:16:30.876 only okay when I'm with you, which is not the 0:16:30.916 --> 0:16:34.836 happiest lyric and actually has slightly dark undertones in a 0:16:34.876 --> 0:16:39.596 way ittend lyric. Yeah, not necessarily the best place to be, 0:16:40.196 --> 0:16:43.436 and yet for some reason the track sounds uplifting or 0:16:43.996 --> 0:16:49.116 engaging and kind of slightly higher vibration than the lyrics 0:16:49.116 --> 0:16:51.036 would kind of have you expect. 0:16:51.756 --> 0:16:55.636 Yeah, do you think that opposition is necessary for a 0:16:55.676 --> 0:16:56.636 song to work? 0:16:57.516 --> 0:16:57.596 Like? 0:16:57.636 --> 0:17:00.516 It can't be all happy, it can't be all one mood. 0:17:01.276 --> 0:17:03.156 I think so it depends what it is. I mean, 0:17:03.196 --> 0:17:06.756 Happy by Pharrell, I think is all happy. I don't 0:17:06.756 --> 0:17:10.356 think there's anything in that song that is that's trying 0:17:10.396 --> 0:17:14.716 to counter the feeling he was going for in that case, 0:17:15.196 --> 0:17:18.996 something as strong, you know. It's like, I think it's 0:17:19.036 --> 0:17:22.596 just about strong decisions. I mean, it's very obviously it's 0:17:22.596 --> 0:17:26.476 hard to just like boil down. What works about music 0:17:26.636 --> 0:17:30.876 is it's something you know in the moment, give the 0:17:30.916 --> 0:17:31.676 feeling you don't. 0:17:31.796 --> 0:17:34.516 But yeah, it's so cool. I think you know a 0:17:34.516 --> 0:17:36.436 lot of what you do. I've heard you talk about 0:17:36.476 --> 0:17:38.956 how editing plays a really big role in how you 0:17:38.996 --> 0:17:42.156 make music, and I don't know if it's a superpower 0:17:42.316 --> 0:17:45.436 or a hidden power, but it gives you a whole 0:17:45.556 --> 0:17:49.396 extra layer of tools to use on what you make. 0:17:49.796 --> 0:17:52.556 Yeah, I think one of the frustrating the things one 0:17:52.556 --> 0:17:56.516 of the things I find frustrating about collaborating sometimes is 0:17:56.556 --> 0:17:59.436 that very often somebody just kind of wants a verse 0:18:00.556 --> 0:18:05.556 and there's not a huge amount of rim for creativity 0:18:05.636 --> 0:18:10.316 within it, and it's not really where I match usually 0:18:10.356 --> 0:18:12.756 at my best, Like I can write a verse for someone, 0:18:13.036 --> 0:18:17.556 but I feel most comfortable when I'm recording myself, yeah, 0:18:17.676 --> 0:18:20.276 and just taking the vocals and using them as a 0:18:20.356 --> 0:18:23.396 kind of material. Right. That's how I write most of 0:18:23.396 --> 0:18:26.796 my stuff, even if even if it's just speeding up 0:18:26.836 --> 0:18:29.316 for a second or putting an effect on it for 0:18:29.356 --> 0:18:32.196 a second to kind of create a moment that I 0:18:32.236 --> 0:18:35.556 can bounce off to write another thing. Maybe that next 0:18:35.556 --> 0:18:38.836 thing is a better idea than even the first stuff 0:18:38.876 --> 0:18:43.156 I write. But I always use, almost always use editing 0:18:43.156 --> 0:18:46.876 as a kind of bridge to a better idea. Because 0:18:48.156 --> 0:18:52.236 my voice is it's easy to me in plate. I mean, 0:18:52.236 --> 0:18:57.156 I guess everyone's is, but I find that, I mean, 0:18:57.196 --> 0:18:59.316 I get bored of my own voice. You know. That's 0:18:59.356 --> 0:19:01.156 That's the other thing is like, you know, I think 0:19:01.196 --> 0:19:04.876 everyone does, But after however many songs I've written, it's 0:19:04.996 --> 0:19:08.596 just like if I've been writing a lot of music 0:19:08.756 --> 0:19:10.876 over the of the month, you're going to get more 0:19:10.916 --> 0:19:13.036 and more of me trying to experiment, to get away 0:19:13.036 --> 0:19:17.996 from how I regularly sound. But there are other times 0:19:17.996 --> 0:19:20.436 when I come to the piano and I just i'd 0:19:20.476 --> 0:19:23.836 feel everything sounds fresh, and I feel like I'm a 0:19:23.876 --> 0:19:25.196 new singer in a way. 0:19:25.676 --> 0:19:30.196 Would you ever consider releasing just a straight ahead you 0:19:30.236 --> 0:19:36.276 at a piano singer songwriter style album or does that 0:19:36.316 --> 0:19:38.476 feel boring in the way that you're saying you get 0:19:38.716 --> 0:19:40.116 you can get sick of your voice. 0:19:40.516 --> 0:19:42.116 I think if I were to do that, I'd have 0:19:42.156 --> 0:19:44.956 to I'd have to find new ways to play the 0:19:44.956 --> 0:19:48.396 piano and play my voice. I don't know, it's not 0:19:48.436 --> 0:19:51.116 out of the question a minute. I sometimes think computers 0:19:51.196 --> 0:19:56.316 also become a massive hindrance, and editing becomes a kind 0:19:56.316 --> 0:20:00.996 of disconnecting thing. And staring at a laptop screen is 0:20:01.316 --> 0:20:05.236 it hollows you? Really totally so in a way like 0:20:05.476 --> 0:20:07.716 after looking at a screen for about an hour, I 0:20:07.756 --> 0:20:10.996 start to make very bad musical decisions. By bad I 0:20:11.036 --> 0:20:15.076 mean disconnected. I don't know. It's kind of no secrets. 0:20:15.076 --> 0:20:18.196 It's like some days I want to be at the pianos. 0:20:18.276 --> 0:20:23.156 Some days I just it feels trite and done to death, 0:20:23.596 --> 0:20:26.316 and then other days the piano feels like the only 0:20:26.356 --> 0:20:29.076 place to express something, and it's and it's the most 0:20:29.116 --> 0:20:32.756 magical instrument. It's the only way I can really communicate it. 0:20:32.836 --> 0:20:36.476 So has your voice always sounded like your voice when 0:20:36.516 --> 0:20:39.196 you first started singing? Did it sound like the James 0:20:39.236 --> 0:20:42.276 Blake we know now or did you have a different 0:20:42.316 --> 0:20:43.476 tone or a different style. 0:20:44.356 --> 0:20:47.956 I had a different tone because I was my voice 0:20:47.996 --> 0:20:51.876 was breaking at the time. Yeah, but I definitely I 0:20:51.956 --> 0:20:54.756 was copying other singers more than I am now, So 0:20:54.916 --> 0:20:55.116 like that. 0:20:55.196 --> 0:20:57.676 Would it sound like or who would you be copying 0:20:57.716 --> 0:20:58.076 back then? 0:20:58.676 --> 0:21:01.796 Well, it sounded and like I guess I'd be copying 0:21:01.876 --> 0:21:06.276 like it's like a mix between Stevie and then and 0:21:06.316 --> 0:21:11.276 then maybe something folkier and rougher, But definitely yeah, not 0:21:11.436 --> 0:21:14.916 a not a smooth voice in that moment. And and 0:21:15.036 --> 0:21:19.276 as as it broke, I kind of found my falsetto 0:21:20.076 --> 0:21:24.316 probably through some desire to get away from my identity 0:21:25.276 --> 0:21:27.836 as a I think there's a there was an interesting 0:21:27.916 --> 0:21:33.156 article about falsetto being a kind of means to to 0:21:33.236 --> 0:21:37.676 disconnect yourself in a way, or you feel alienated already, 0:21:37.756 --> 0:21:45.436 so you leave your regular range, and I always thought 0:21:45.476 --> 0:21:49.756 that was quite appropriate. Rely just that's how I felt, 0:21:49.876 --> 0:21:51.476 and maybe that's why I did it. I don't know, 0:21:51.836 --> 0:21:55.596 but like endlessly singing in falsetto, it's not really satisfying 0:21:55.636 --> 0:21:58.236 for listeners. I don't think. I think we need a break, 0:21:58.236 --> 0:22:01.516 We need a range of somebody's you know, capabilities, which 0:22:01.596 --> 0:22:05.516 is why I started to incorporate my lower range. Like actually, 0:22:05.516 --> 0:22:07.036 a lot of people, like even in Retrogade, some of 0:22:07.076 --> 0:22:10.116 the people's favorite parts, a lot of people's favorite part 0:22:10.156 --> 0:22:13.636 is the moment where I go alone and it's like 0:22:14.276 --> 0:22:15.836 I dropped down to that register. 0:22:16.716 --> 0:22:18.196 I guess it's a little surprising. 0:22:18.796 --> 0:22:22.116 Yeah, well, it's just say like, hey, I'm here, like still, 0:22:22.476 --> 0:22:24.836 you know, I'm not just I'm not just over here, 0:22:24.916 --> 0:22:29.716 being this kind of kind of ghostly voice. It's like 0:22:29.796 --> 0:22:32.596 you're reaching through the TV and saying I'm actually still, 0:22:33.036 --> 0:22:33.676 I'm still here. 0:22:34.516 --> 0:22:38.396 Yeah, So you mentioned that was one of I think 0:22:38.436 --> 0:22:42.276 you said that's one of your best songs. Yeah, do 0:22:42.276 --> 0:22:44.196 you consider it one of your best songs because it's 0:22:44.236 --> 0:22:47.596