British buzz boy James Blake has been described as electronic soul. In his soldout Twin Cities debut Monday at the jam-packed 7th Street Entry, he seemed like the love child of Antony Hegarty and Brian Eno — only with better hair than either of them.
Backed by a guitarist and drummer, keyboardist/vocalist Blake, 22, served up one of the quietest shows ever in the Entry. Between songs, clubgoers were shhhushing others so much that Tick Tack, one of the Entry bartenders, scolded one shhhusher: "Being annoyed about being annoyed is annoying."
That was probably more profound than any of Blake's lyrics. His words, like his music, were often abstract and repetitive, delivered with a halting phrasing. His voice was often quivering like Hegarty's, mostly detached and occasionally manipulated electronically (even doubled).
Blake's sound had either a certain stillness or a machine-generated bass that might have invited people to dance if this wasn't all so precious.
Whether he played a new song like the piano ballad "Heartbreak," the almost-pop "Limit To Your Love" or the rare midtempo "The Wilhelm Scream," Blake received an enthusiastic reception that was invariably louder than the music. (Local Anglophiles know that Blake was the runnerup in the BBC's Sound of 2011 poll predicting the next big thing in pop.)
"When we walked here today, we had to walk through the big venue [First Avenue] where we hoped to be playing," he told the crowd that hung on his every word for his entire hour onstage. "Why can't we be on the stage Prince played? Being here now, I can see why."
Responded one loud fan: "Prince played here, too."
