Enough Thunder

Whether he’s stripping parts from under the hood of avant-dubstep minimalism, recording a smoldering soulful cover of Feist’s “Limit to Your Love,” or fusing R&B-tinged indie with left-field production and IDM architecture, it’s the eerie trill in James Blake’s haunting vocals that marks his musical signature. In the spectral opening song “Once We All Agree,” Blake’s warbling inflections sound like he’s singing from a hospital bed, as spare piano notes punctuate the changes over a distressing ambience. He ramps up the experimental production flourishes on “We Might Feel Unsound,” where a skittering snare accompanies percolating beats to create something that sounds like a collaboration between Björk and Thom Yorke. Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon duets on “Fall Creek Boys Choir,” a stylish standout with slow-burning rhythms crackling under analog synth drones and looped animal sounds. In his cover of “A Case of You” (one of the strongest selections from Joni Mitchell’s Blue), Blake utilizes only sparse piano and voice and nails Mitchell’s erratic phrasing with his own sophistication.