Now that a broken heart’s left him wounded, the melancholic fissure of his music widens, dropping him into a pool deeper than any he’s ever found himself swimming in before. Yet here he is, splitting it up, sectioning it off, and presenting a work that feels equal parts natural and divine.
As with Overgrown, Blake has expanded far beyond the sonic roots he forested on his self-titled album.
A staggeringly impressive and confident third album from an artist who has reached the very peak of his powers.
The Colour in Anything is a work of restless invention, standing as Blake’s most creative collection to date.
From its weighty subject matter to its incredibly nuanced production, The Colour in Anything is not only Blake at his best, but also his most personal.
His voice is peerless, quietly adapted to his world of minimalist beats and ghostly electronics. The effect is stark, and intensely compelling. At 17 tracks long, this is a listen that plumbs substantial depths, but in Blake’s world, time ceases to be a constraint.
It's an introspective, at times hesitant collection yet in the way most introverts allow themselves to relax within company, the more time you invest in The Colour In Anything the more readily you will discover its qualities.
Even if Colour doesn’t drastically alter Blake’s sound, it widens and refines it, keeping what made his first two records so memorable while hinting that there remains ever further room for growth.
In the best way possible, in no way shape or form is The Colour in Anything a rapid departure or reversal of what Blake does well. He still paints in deep blues and greys. His production is still unparalleled, spacious, and impossibly textured. His voice is still chilly and metallic, but maintains all its choir boy charm. His music is still towering and menacingly sad.
In an era of 9-12 track albums, The Colour in Anything comes in at 17 songs and the amount invites you to explore and absorb at random, offering moods and tempos beyond just the ruminative and forlorn.
A record that reveals itself slower than his previous works, unfolding like a flower rather than bludgeoning you with balladry.
Blake is stood on his own as the darkening sky burdens him on the album's artwork ... It perfectly encapsulates the sound of The Colour in Anything, and of James Blake’s allure in general - taking an intense and isolating gloom and turning it into something beautiful and distinctive.
This album of digital anxiety and millennial unease is wrapped in something that feels both toweringly accomplished and heart-wrenchingly frail – and for that reason it should be treasured.
TCIA is full of the kind of love and loss that can heal the deepest of wounds.
The Colour In Anything emphasizes the element of trust that collaboration implies and its role in articulating Blake’s feelings. It’s an act that stresses both our desire to share and our yearning to create, even when we aren’t really sure what it is we want to say.
More soulful, perhaps, than its predecessors, but overlong at 17 tracks, it expands Blake’s bleak vision.
The promise and brilliance of The Colour In Anything's best songs are replaced by a sense of listlessness. In his mission to keep things quiet and subdued, Blake nearly snuffs out his own flickering flame.
The Colour In Anything is Blake's fullest and boldest work yet.
Like the watercolor cover art depicts, there’s even a glint of light and new tonal colors to be found in Blake’s monochromatic sound.
Compared to the self-titled debut and Overgrown, this a more graceful and denser purging, one that can soundtrack some intense wallowing or, at a low volume, throb and murmur unobtrusively in the background.
The Colour In Anything is a good album that could have been great if Blake had been a bit more willing to edit and discard his less successful sonic experiments.
The Colour in Anything, as dazzling as it often is, finds Blake sidetracked by all the things he can do and doing them coldly, rather than focusing on the few things he should.
These songs are Blake at his best and most sonically inventive. At 75 minutes-plus and 17 tracks, though, the whole presents a challenge at odds with the sensitivity of those romantic reveries.
The rest is, as mentioned, colorless and tedious, with Blake’s typical lugubriousness added in.
Quality over quantity is the most important thing for an album. I would rather have a short album that has amazing tracks than a long album that has boring or even terrible tracks. Sadly though, The Colour in Anything seems to go for quantity over quality.
Now, this album isn't bad in any way. However, this album is WAY too long for the sound it's going for, with most of the tracks feeling like filler. Most of the tracks on this album aren't that interesting and are kind of generic, which is ... read more
The wonderfully evocative cover for this album is a fitting image for this absolutely stunning album.
Sometimes things don't get easier.
Recently I've been making a new habit in my first week of my new boarding school. Every night, I'll sit up on my windowsill, open my window and stare at the stars. All of this whilst listening to this very album.
The last month I've been thinking about what makes music special to me. What does music need to do to me for it to be more than just good or ... read more
Too much fat on this one, theres a good album in there somewhere which is annoying and keeps me coming back.
Big JB once again finds a way to find incredibly emotive music… in parts. This albums biggest flaw is by far its consistency, which can detract from the listening experience, however when it clicks it is some of Blake’s best work up to this point with space being utilised similarly to the debut whilst also transferring the more synthetic electronic elements of overgrown and his first few EP’s. All in all a very good album however it is not above criticism with some of the ... read more
1 | Radio Silence 4:00 | 90 |
2 | Points 3:31 | 75 |
3 | Love Me in Whatever Way 5:03 | 87 |
4 | Timeless 4:22 | 81 |
5 | F.O.R.E.V.E.R. 2:40 | 77 |
6 | Put That Away and Talk to Me 3:57 | 71 |
7 | I Hope My Life 5:40 | 72 |
8 | Waves Know Shores 2:55 | 80 |
9 | My Willing Heart 4:02 | 86 |
10 | Choose Me 5:38 | 90 |
11 | I Need A Forest Fire 4:17 feat. Bon Iver | 89 |
12 | Noise Above Our Heads 5:03 | 82 |
13 | The Colour in Anything 3:33 | 77 |
14 | Two Men Down 6:01 | 76 |
15 | Modern Soul 5:32 | 83 |
16 | Always 5:04 | 72 |
17 | Meet You in the Maze 4:55 | 70 |
#1 | / | Albumism |
#5 | / | GIGsoup |
#7 | / | BLARE |
#9 | / | Mixmag |
#10 | / | Hypebeast |
#14 | / | LA Music Blog |
#16 | / | Time Out London |
#18 | / | No Ripcord |
#18 | / | Variance |
#19 | / | Double J |