As James Blake finally opened his mouth to sing after the slow, dub build of “Air And Lack Thereof” at the Ogden Theatre on Sunday, it seemed odd that Rusko had played two nights in the same club earlier this month.
Blake and Rusko, two dubstep producers from England — who theoretically should have very similar music and fans, couldn’t be further apart.
And when Blake, backed by a live drummer and another multi-instrumentalist, cooed the first lines of “I Never Learnt To Share” in his striking falsetto, it was clear he’s bringing something new to this electronic genre — humanity.
Blake has long discredited artists like Rusko and Skrillex as pandering to a “frat boy market” that rewards “machoism.” And this lithe, modestly dressed figure, hunched behind his equipment, juxtaposed complex atmospheres of imploding bass with a fragile singer-songwriter persona.
Blake’s is an electronic show without any of the tired electronic tropes. There’s no single person on a pedestal behind a computer pumping his fist in unison with the crowd. He sat on the right side of the stage working sometimes three instruments at once, while the crowd analyzed.
In fact the crowd rarely danced at all. This was an electronic show that rewarded deep listening rather than getting caught up in a four-to-the-floor beat.
As with Blake’s origins as a dubstep producer, and his obvious qualms with the genre as a whole, the theme of his music is the delicate balancing of two musical identities.
One identity has him reaching for feeling in music, with his soulful, almost tortured vocals as when he asked for pathos on “Our Love Comes Back.” This song had Blake’s unmanipulated, choir boy voice accompanied by nothing but piano, with an R&B feel.
Blake’s other identity is as a studio and production wizard, whose goal is to crush the listener with innovative synth patches.
Where on record, he’s able to blend the gap between dubstep producer and singer-songwriter, at times in his live show, the two seemed independent of one another.
Amid this turmoil, Blake stepped out on stage for his encore by himself and did something an artist like Rusko would never do. He sang, bearing his soul in a stunning cover of Joni Mitchell’s “Case of You.”
Matt Miller: 303-954-1785, mrmiller@denverpost.com
