James Blake - Timeless

If titles are anything to go by, James Blake’s hitting a confident stride. ‘Modern Soul’ - an apt marker for his music - arrived a couple of months back. Now he’s dubbing his latest work ‘Timeless’. Someone’s been skipping portions of humble pie.

With ‘Radio Silence’ complete, Blake (always prone to the odd fib) is claiming the record consists of eighteen tracks. This gives him license to try everything in the space of a full-length, in effect.

‘Timeless’ might be the most old school shade of Blake for some time, harking back to the ‘CMYK’ days, all stop-start samples and siren-like pulses. Unlike the old days, he’s using his voice as a texture, looping the words “you know you slide out when you slide in, with graceful shadows” against thick, concrete slabs.

It’s a collision of two worlds - past and present. In fact, this might explain where the song actually gets its title from.