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Video: James Blake Marches His Flock to the Dark Side

"Overgrown": where bleakness meets lushness.

To be honest, I haven't spent quite enough time with the new James Blake album to say anything that meaningful. I suppose I didn't much get the buzz the first time the dubstep producer/singer-songwriter crossed over (into the pseudo-mainstream of popular indie music), so when folks such as those at XLR8R (one of this writer's alma maters) are panning the new Blake record, however kindly, it doesn't race to the top of the listening list.

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Blake has followed a fairly typical crossover trajectory from electronic production to more traditional songwriting/live instrumentation. See also: Jamie Lidell, Matthew Dear, Hot Chip, even Dan Deacon. It seems to be natural and, given the aforementioned examples, not a good reason to avoid a thing. Which the song and video below, for the new record's title track "Overgrown," confirm.

Reach this writer at michaelb@motherboard.tv or @everydayelk