The Audio Perv

By Morad Moazami

It is a fascinating experience to see venues fill up and empty out day by day. Each day new sounds are introduced, while on others, older tunes are relived and revisited. Only a few days ago, Peter Hook and the Light took to the stage at Toronto’s Phoenix Concert Theatre and put on an unforgettable show recalling the memory of the legendary Joy Division – a band that collapsed over 30 years ago. The memory of that show, among countless of other great performances are surely etched into the history of this concert venue, and new ones are surely to be added. While last week the Phoenix celebrated the music of a band long lost in time, this week instead belonged to a wholly different kind of musician: the rising prodigy that is James Blake.

With music that croons and hinges on the fragility of sound, Blake’s music undoubtedly requires a delicate atmosphere and a great deal of hard work to shape, rearrange, and bring to life every night in a different city and venue; each with completely dissimilar characteristics in both sound and setting. Blake could have easily brought along with him a Mac laptop, a turntable and a couple of synthesizers and faultlessly recreated the sounds that have captured so large an audience in the 21-year-old’s so-far-short but impeccable career, yet he knows neither he as an artist nor his fans would be fully satisfied by such a set-up. Though he is prominent for his utilization of samplers and sequencers, Blake is far from the stereotypical dubstep “musician”, in the sense that he truly is a musician by every definition of that word.

When entering the concert venue one of the most instantly noticeable sights was that of a lack of turntables and laptops. To be more precise, there were none. Instead keyboards, synthesizers, guitars, and a drum-set had already been set-up on stage for the youthful headliner and his live band.

Before Blake took to the stage, the New York-based Chairlift performed an opening set. Aside from the atrocious name, Chairlift were an impressive ensemble of musicians, receiving expanding applauses after the performance of each song. Halfway through their 30-minute set however, a common suspicion loomed along the audience: the songs though highly enjoyable had a certain same-soundingness to them; that of electronic rock infused with nostalgic ‘80s pop. The vocalist Caroline Polachek danced and delightedly moved about throughout the set, singing with a falsetto most similar to that of Kate Bush – yet understandably not as far-reaching. The band triumphed in winning back the growing audience with the last song of the set, a loud danceable track with surprising hints of industrial music carefully layered in between. This band’s attention-grabbing performance was a great indication of the talent and energy that is contained in this group, and if Chairlift – regardless of that horrendous name – are able to break through the same-soundingness that plagued the midpoint of their set, they assuredly have the musicianship to achieve greater levels of success.

When James Blake and his two musical companions walked onto the stage, the crowd had already been warmed up by the satisfactory opening band and the general anticipation to hear his music in person – especially considering that his prolific catalogue had already expanded in the mere 5-months since he last visited Toronto.

The show opened with the title-track from Blake’s forthcoming EP, Enough Thunder, a piano-driven piece of music that could have faultlessly been a part of Blake’s debut LP without undermining the flow of the intricate record. The familiar strains of Unluck followed as Blake and his bandmates – one solely playing drums while the other regularly switched between guitar and synthesizer – exquisitely captured the soul of the artist’s self-titled album in the live setting. More than frequently, the sonic mastery of three-piece live act would disperse vibrations throughout the venue, adding to the intimacy of the hushed atmosphere. As they continued to perform more song from the eponymous album (I Never Learnt to Share, Lindisfarne, To Care Like You), it became evident that Blake wasn’t merely altering the atmosphere of the enclosed venue, but by utilizing his masterful craft and musicianship to its full potential, he was, in actuality, creating a wholly new environment, one that could accompany his unique music with the precision that he deemed necessary.

Blake’s excitement in performing was evident throughout the set. It was a refreshing sight to see this young musician smile with a glimmering radiance, unable to conceal the thrill and pleasure of having obtained such great prominence and acclaim in such a short period of time. After all, it certainly must be a strange yet wonderful sensation to realize that your music is inspiring those twice your age, not to mention a significant portion of the younger audience.

After an extended performance of his most-beautiful rendition of Feist’s Limit to Your Love, Blake continued to lyrically overwhelm the audience with rarities like Klavierwerke and yet another new song from his upcoming EP, titled Once We All Agree, before ending the set with The Wilhelm Scream.

Of course, the one-hour set was not all. After a round of thunderous applause, the three-piece walked back on stage, performing a lengthy unknown piece that thickened with layers as the song progressed; an impromptu jam that all three musicians were certainly enjoying and reveling in. After the remarkable piece, Blake’s musical confidants left the stage, leaving the closing song to Blake and his piano, as he performed his recently revealed cover of the Joni Mitchell classic, A Case of You.

As one walks through the hallways of the Phoenix Theatre, framed photographs of many bands who have performed on its stage are proudly hung on the wall: The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Green Day, The Black Crowes, and many others; each of them having left a hint of their music and legacy in this enclosed space. For a consummate performer like James Blake, this is only the beginning. After an astonishingly swift and deserved rise to fame, Blake has proved himself to be a significant figure in today’s musical environment, offering the world accessible yet extraordinarily novel sounds that will unquestionably have their effects on modern-day musicians’ approach to music. Perhaps, years from now, another framed photograph will catch the eye of a passing fan: that of James Blake, a pioneer of his own.

Setlist:

Enough Thunder
Unlick
Tep & The Logic
I Never Learnt To Share
Lindisfarne
To Care (Like You)
CMYK
Limit To Your Love
Klavierwerke
Once We All Agree
The Wilhelm Scream

A Case of You (Joni Mitchell Cover)