21 year electronic singer and BRIT Award nominee, James Blake is an artist I’ve talked about in passing on the blog but never properly spotlighted. What better way to bring him to your attention than with a “Hot Video Alert” for his new single, “Lindisfarne.” “Lindisfarne” is the third single taken from Blake’s self-titled debut album, following 2010’s Feist cover, “Limit To Your Love” and his last single “The Wilhelm Scream,” which came out in March. Signed to R&S Records/ATLAS (and Universal Republic in the U.S.), Blake is a promising young talent who’s style is very reminiscent to fellow electronic-singer/songwriter Imogen Heap. It’s that same sound that Imogen Heap produced on “Hide & Seek,” using a harmonizer to create that cloudy, muffled, electronically-altered a capella sound and I have to say…it’s kind of sexy to me. Am I alone in that? I guess I should clarify that Blake’s talent isn’t completely masked by vocal effects. If you listen to his previous two singles, particularly “Limit To Your Love,” you really start to get a sense of his chops. The boy can SANG.
James Blake was announced as runner-up in BBC’s Sound of 2011 poll, coming in second behind singer/songwriter Jessie J and listed alongside big names like Clare Maguire, The Vaccines and Jamie Woon. Before landing the big time, Blake received some early support from BBC Radio 1 DJs Gilles Peterson and Nick Grimshaw, both of whom played some of Blake’s early, indie material on the air. Before even releasing his first official single, Blake was getting praised left and right by the DJ community. “Limit To Your Love” was named “Hottest Record In The World” by Radio 1’s Zane Lowe, going on to peak at #47 on the UK Singles Chart when it was released in November. Blake’s self-titled debut album was released in February where it debuted at #9 on the UK Albums chart, #1 in Belgium, #2 in Denmark and even #123 on the Billboard 200 chart. Pretty impressive for a debut, no?
Check out the dark and somewhat disturbing Martin de Thurah-directed video for “Lindisfarne” below. De Thurah also directed the video for Blake’s first single, “Limit To Your Love.” In the video we see a small group of friends performing some sort of a pact with one another. The pact involves strange ritualistic dancing, body painting and even some blood. Very odd but oddly intriguing. Blake briefly appears in the video singing, but for the most part the video focuses on the story of the children. “Lindisfarne,” is due out June 20th. Download James Blake on U.S. iTunes HERE.
**FYI** Lindisfarne is the name of a small English island.