James Blake at the Memorial Hall, presented by Sound Knowledge

James Blake’s new album Trying Times debuted at number three in the UK official album charts when it was released on March 13th, so having him play at Marlborough College’s Memorial Hall on Friday night was a coup by Roger Mortimer at Sound Knowledge. It’s a string of only a handful of small venues where the singer is showcasing his new material before taking it to the 10,000 capacity venues he usually plays later this year. And what a magical experience it was for those lucky enough to witness James at his best. 

No two gigs are the same with the Mercury Prize and Grammy award winning artist who rose to prominence with his second album Overgrown in 2013. His sets are organic productions, which is why seeing him live is such a unique experience. This performance was perhaps more experimental than usual. “We’re doing something new here,” James announced when he and bandmate Rob McAndrews arrived on stage. “We’ve brought the whole studio to give you an idea of how Trying Times was made.” He then launched in to an hour of what really did feel like witnessing them enjoying making exceptional music together. 

There was a lot of tech on stage, including a rarely used Roland Beatbox (or drum machine) and various keyboards – maybe not the entire studio as James joked. First was Trying Times, the title track for his album that’s out now. The audience was immediately mesmerised by the beautiful vocal effects and emotive lyrics – not to mention James’ voice. 

Next came several tracks from his new album: Make Something Up, Walk Out Music, Death of Love, I Had a Dream She Took My Hand – often one song blending in to another, the audience fully immersed in the sonic experience. The fusion of so many sounds and beats with James’s hauntingly beautiful voice – ranging from falsetto to a deep bass – could be fully appreciated in this intimate setting. His high notes were often exposed without the back up of the full range of his instruments and kit.

Towards the end, he played a couple of old tracks. “Are you having a nice time?” He asked to a rapturous response. “This song uses a vocoder (voice encoder) but we don’t have one so we’re going do it without it and you’ll realise what was behind that all this time – me.” He then played Lindsifarne, a single from 2011, which showcased James’ voice at its rawest. 

Next came Life Round Here from 2013 and more bravery. “It’s hard enough playing this with three people so playing it with two is suicidal really,” he laughed. Of course he pulled it off. The penultimate song was Retrograde, James’s biggest hit to date and has been used for a whole host of TV programmes including Suits and Silent Witness. This was a stripped back reflective version with predominately James just on the keyboard and got a huge reaction.

After the crowd died down and before his final track, a stunning version of Don McLean’s ‘Vincent’ – or frequently known as ‘Starry Starry Night; (one of his favourite songs), he said, “I love Don but I also love you. Thank you so much for coming out, it really means a lot. And also this isn’t something I normally go on about and chart positions have never been something that’s bothered me. But we made number three in the UK chart and that could literally have been because of your ticket to this show so I do appreciate that. I’m up there with Harry Styles!”

The standing ovation he got at the end was more than worthy of both Harry and James as it showed just how palpable the love back was. It was James’s first visit to Marlborough and hopefully not his last.