JAMES BLAKE
FRIENDS THAT BREAK YOUR HEART
OVER the last decade, James Blake has evolved from an electronic music producer with a distinctive sound into something closer to a sonic troubadour – a singer-songwriter in the vein of Joni Mitchell or Bob Dylan, aided by a sound palette that draws from all areas of contemporary music but is totally his own.
Friends That Break Your Heart, his fifth album, was inspired by the realisation that the dynamics of crumbling friendships have not been written about as much as their romantic counterparts.
It was also inspired by the way certain friends melted away during the pandemic.
Yet, by his own standards, it is a rather uplifting work.
His last album, 2019's Assume Form, described the happiness Blake found with his girlfriend Jameela Jamil in Los Angeles and functioned as a full stop to the first stage of his career.
Friends That Break Your Heart marks the start of something new.
Four stars
Alex Green
****
SHARON CORR
THE FOOL AND THE SCORPION
ON her third solo album, the second oldest of the four Corr siblings largely sticks to the musical template set out in her previous works.
Celtic folk-pop remains the dominant sound although jazz-inflected piano gives her a chance to stretch out on the whispered Lend Me Your Shoulder, and The Heart Of A Lonely Hunter sees her exploring widescreen alternative rock.
But it is Corr's vulnerability that lifts these 10 songs above their predecessors.
The Fool And The Scorpion emerged out of Corr's divorce from her husband of 18 years, barrister Gavin Bonnar, with who she shares two children – a period she revisits in often painful detail.
It is never quite clear whether Corr sees herself as the fool or the scorpion, the hunter or the hunted.
But perhaps that's the point. She is both.
Three stars
Alex Green
****
CARAVAN
IT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS
CARAVAN has never been a particularly commercial band.
Even their 1971 opus In the Land of Grey And Pink, considered one of the defining works of the Canterbury progressive rock scene, initially failed to chart in the UK.
Despite this, a shifting line-up has allowed them to tour and record almost constantly since their heyday, led by guitarist and vocalist Pye Hastings.
It's None Of Your Business is their 15th album and sees the group reinvigorated by the pandemic.
This may not be a return to the band's folk roots but tracks like Spare A Thought and There Is You lean towards their more traditional influences.
Hastings and his band deliver an album that will please long-standing fans and perhaps entice some new ones as well.
Three stars
Alex Green
****
PORCHES
ALL DAY GENTLE HOLD !
NEW York artist Aaron Maine has created both indie rock and auto-tuned synth-pop since bursting onto the scene a decade ago.
But until last year's Ricky Music, he had never managed to imbue his scrappy musical experiments with genuine personality.
Ricky Music explored the end of a relationship and provided a compelling portrait of Maine at his most emotionally vulnerable.
All Day Gentle Hold ! is something else entirely, returning Maine to his early rock roots (such as first loves Nirvana and The Ramones) while maintaining the more spiky, spasmodic elements from his recent albums.
It's a suitably angsty affair but unsurprisingly, for an album conceived quickly during lockdown, there is a lack of development.
There's no doubt, however, that listening to these 11 tracks will transport listeners back to their own heady teenage days.
Three stars
Alex Green
