Overgrown
Studio album by
James Blake
Released5 April 2013 (2013-04-05)
Recorded2010–2012
Genre
Length39:22
Label
ProducerJames Blake
James Blake chronology
Love What Happened Here
(2011)		 Overgrown
(2013)		 200 Press (EP)
(2014)
Singles from Overgrown
  1. "Retrograde"
    Released: 11 February 2013[2]
  2. "Overgrown"
    Released: 10 April 2013

Overgrown is the second studio album by English electronic musician James Blake. It was released on 5 April 2013 by Blake's Atlas Records, along with A&M Records and Polydor Records. The album features guest appearances from electronic music producer Brian Eno and Wu-Tang Clan member RZA.[3] Overgrown debuted at number eight on the UK Albums Chart and at number one on the US Dance/Electronic chart. It was supported by lead single "Retrograde".

The album was awarded the 2013 Mercury Prize, beating favourites Laura Mvula, Disclosure and David Bowie to win. It also earned Blake a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best New Artist at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards.

Background

Following both the critical and commercial success of Blake's self-titled debut album, Blake released both the Enough Thunder and Love What Happened Here EPs. These EPs, noticeably more structured than his previous releases, featured more R&B tinged work as opposed to the dubstep-influenced electronic sound of CMYK. Many reviewers speculated in the year between releases that Blake was headed in the wrong direction, with Pitchfork's Larry Fitzmaurice saying that "James Blake's reliance on piano-based singer/songwriter electro-soul perhaps played it a bit too safe, prompting comparisons to the once-outré, now-gear spinning career of fellow avant-crooner Jamie Lidell".[4]

Blake admitted to Hot Press in an interview about Overgrown that his relationship affected the album. He said, "I can't deny it. There's no point in trying to come up with some other explanation for what I've been writing about....When it happened, I was really struck. Y'know—suddenly I'm hit!".[5]

Earlier in 2012, Blake spent time with American rapper Kanye West and singer Justin Vernon. In 2012, after months of speculation, Blake announced a new collaborative non-single release under the moniker Harmonimix. This release featured British rapper Trim and the single "Confidence Boost/Saying" was released on 24 September 2012. It was a return to form for Blake and featured the distinct characteristics present in his previous efforts (though "Confidence Boost" had been floating around on the internet for three or four years).[6]

Promotion and release

During the final weeks of 2012, Blake performed three intimate shows where he debuted five new tracks, "Our Love Comes Back", "Overgrown", "Retrograde", "To the Last" and "Every Day I Ran."[7][8]

Blake announced via Facebook on 7 February 2013 that his second album, Overgrown, would be released on 8 April.[9] The first single from the album, "Retrograde", was debuted the same day on BBC Radio 1, and was released on 11 February. On 7 March, Blake and his labelmates at 1-800 Dinosaur shared both the dub version of "Voyeur" and the album cut of "Digital Lion" featuring Brian Eno.[10] The title track was released as a single on 10 April alongside a music video directed by Nabil Elderkin.[11] A remix of the track "Life Round Here" featuring Chance the Rapper was released on 11 October alongside a music video directed by Nabil Elderkin.[12][13]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?7.9/10[14]
Metacritic82/100[15]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[16]
The A.V. ClubA−[17]
The Daily Telegraph[18]
The Guardian[19]
The Independent[20]
NME8/10[21]
Paste6.4/10[22]
Pitchfork8.0/10[23]
Q[24]
Rolling Stone[25]

Overgrown received widespread critical acclaim upon its release. At Metacritic, which assigns a rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 82, based on 40 reviews, which indicates "universal acclaim".[15] Martyn Young of musicOMH stated that "Overgrown is more diverse and dynamic than before. Blake seems to have found an ideal middle ground between restrained and measured balladry and disorientating electronic soul".[26] This sentiment was echoed by The Guardian's Paul MacInnes, who wrote that "Blake's palette is unique, his abilities as a composer are great and quite obviously growing."[19] In a review for AllMusic, Fred Thomas described the album as existing "somewhere between the vacant echoes of dub and trip-hop, dubstep's sample-slicing production, and the contained heartbreak of a singer/songwriter playing piano to himself in an empty room," and noted that "while it might take listeners a few spins to find the right head space for the album, once they get there, it's an easy place to get lost in."[16] Clash said the album is "paradoxically less fragmented than its illustrious predecessor, ideas rotating core values guided by an affirmatively unseen hand. Which ultimately makes this an even better record."[27]

On 30 October 2013, the album won the Mercury Music award for album of the year. The lead single, "Retrograde", also won an Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song.

Overgrown ranked among the top albums for the year, making it on to many end-of-year lists.

Year-end rankings

Publication List Rank Ref
Clash Clash's Top Albums of 2013 2 [28]
Complex The Best Albums of 2013 3 [29]
Consequence of Sound The Top 50 Albums of 2013 37 [30]
The Guardian The Best Albums of 2013 5 [31]
The Michigan Daily Best of 2013: Top 10 Albums 6 [32]
Mojo Top 50 Albums of 2013 25 [33]
NME NME's 50 Best Albums of 2013 50 [34]
NPR NPR Music's 50 Favorite Albums of 2013 N/A [35]
Pitchfork Top 50 Best Albums of 2013 26 [36]
Pitchfork 2013 Readers' Poll 14 [37]
Pretty Much Amazing 40 Best Albums of 2013 32☨ [38]
Q 50 Best Albums of 2013 46 [39]
Richard Kingsmill Top 10 Albums of 2013 1 [40]
Tiny Mix Tapes Favorite 50 Albums of 2013 25 [41]

"N/A" indicates that the publication did not rank the works included in their year-end list.

"☨" denotes that the Top 10 were unranked and published alphabetically.

Decade-end rankings

Publication List Rank Ref
AllMusic The AllMusic Decade in Review (2010s) N/A [42]
The A.V. Club The AV Club's 50 Favorite Albums of the 2010s 22 [43]

The Decade in Review list incorporates an unranked enumeration of 200 albums spanning the 2010s decade.

Track listing

All tracks are written by James Blake, except "Digital Lion", written by Blake, Brian Eno and Rob McAndrews

No.TitleLength
1."Overgrown"5:00
2."I Am Sold"4:04
3."Life Round Here"3:37
4."Take a Fall for Me" (featuring RZA)3:33
5."Retrograde"3:43
6."DLM"2:25
7."Digital Lion"4:45
8."Voyeur"4:17
9."To the Last"4:19
10."Our Love Comes Back"3:39
Total length:39:22
iTunes bonus tracks[44]
No.TitleLength
11."Every Day I Ran"3:24
12."Retrograde" (music video)4:03
Total length:48:09
Japanese edition bonus track[45]
No.TitleLength
11."The Wilhelm Scream" (Live at Pitchfork)6:01
Total length:45:23

Personnel

  • James Blake – writing, engineering, production, mixing, instrumentation, vocals
  • Brian Eno – writing (track 7)
  • Rob McAndrews – writing, guitar (track 7)
  • Ben Assiter – additional percussion (track 1)
  • RZA – vocals (track 4)
  • Matt Colton – mastering

Charts

Certifications and sales

Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[75] Gold 10,000‡
United Kingdom (BPI)[76] Silver 60,000*
United States — 54,000[77]

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Release history

Region Date Label
Australia[78] 5 April 2013 Universal
Germany[79]
Ireland[80]
United Kingdom[81] 8 April 2013
France[82] Universal
Sweden[83]
Italy[84] 9 April 2013
Poland[85]
United States[86] Republic
Japan[45] 10 April 2013 Universal

See also

References

  1. ↑ Matthew Haddrill. "James Blake". The Line of Best Fit.
  2. ↑ "Retrograde – Single by James Blake". iTunes Store UK. Apple Inc. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
  3. ↑ "Brian Eno, RZA Guest on James Blake Album". Pitchfork. 25 February 2013.
  4. ↑ "James Blake: Love What Happened Here review". Pitchfork.
  5. ↑ ""I fell in love" – James Blake tells Hot Press".
  6. ↑ "Trimbal: "Confidence Boost/Saying"". 22 August 2012.
  7. ↑ "Watch James Blake Play Two New Songs -- Pitchfork". Pitchfork. 5 December 2012. Retrieved 8 December 2012.
  8. ↑ "James Blake Setlist at Conway Hall, London, England". Setlist.fm. 4 December 2012. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
  9. ↑ "My new album..." James Blake. 7 February 2013. Retrieved 7 February 2013.
  10. ↑ "James Blake – "Digital Lion"". Complex. 7 March 2013. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
  11. ↑ Cooper, Leonie (10 April 2013). "James Blake unveils video for 'Overgrown' – watch". NME. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
  12. ↑ Cooper, Leonie (14 October 2013). "James Blake and Chance The Rapper reveal 'Life Round Here' video – watch". NME. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
  13. ↑ Life Round Here (feat. Chance The Rapper) – Single by James Blake, January 2013, retrieved 4 January 2019
  14. ↑ "Overgrown by James Blake reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved 30 December 2019.
  15. 1 2 "Reviews for Overgrown by James Blake". Metacritic. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
  16. 1 2 Thomas, Fred. "Overgrown – James Blake". AllMusic. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
  17. ↑ Butler, Will (9 April 2013). "James Blake: Overgrown". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
  18. ↑ McCormick, Neil (31 October 2013). "James Blake, Overgrown, album review". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  19. 1 2 MacInnes, Paul (4 April 2013). "James Blake: Overgrown – review". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
  20. ↑ Price, Simon (6 April 2013). "Album: James Blake, Overgrown (Polydor)". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 8 April 2013. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  21. ↑ Horner, Al (8 April 2013). "James Blake – 'Overgrown'". NME. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
  22. ↑ Huffstutter, Nathan (9 April 2013). "James Blake – 'Overgrown'". Paste. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  23. ↑ Harvey, Eric (9 April 2013). "James Blake: Overgrown". Pitchfork. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
  24. ↑ "James Blake: Overgrown". Q (322): 96. May 2013.
  25. ↑ Rosen, Jody (15 April 2013). "Overgrown". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
  26. ↑ "musicOMH review". 3 April 2013.
  27. ↑ "Clash magazine review". 8 April 2013.
  28. ↑ "Clash's Top Albums Of 2013: 10-1". Clash Magazine. 13 December 2013. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  29. ↑ "The Best Albums of 2013". Complex. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  30. ↑ "Top 50 Albums of 2013". Consequence. 13 December 2013. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  31. ↑ "The best albums of 2013: No 5 – Overgrown by James Blake". The Guardian. 16 December 2013. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  32. ↑ Staff, Daily Arts (8 January 2014). "Best of 2013: Top 10 Albums". The Michigan Daily. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  33. ↑ "MOJO's Top 50 Albums of 2013". Album of The Year. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  34. ↑ "NME's 50 Best Albums Of 2013". NME. 26 November 2013. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  35. ↑ "NPR Music's 50 Favorite Albums Of 2013". NPR. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  36. ↑ "Pitchfork: Top 50 Albums of 2013". yearendlists.com. 19 December 2013. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  37. ↑ "2013 Readers Poll Results". Pitchfork. 31 December 2013. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  38. ↑ "PMA's 40 Best Albums of 2013 | Pretty Much Amazing". Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  39. ↑ "Q Magazine's Top 50 Albums of 2013". Album of The Year. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  40. ↑ "2013 – Albums of the Year". triple j. 21 June 2017. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  41. ↑ "2013: Favorite 50 Albums of 2013". Tiny Mix Tapes. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  42. ↑ "The AllMusic Decade in Review". AllMusic. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  43. ↑ Club, The A. V. (20 November 2019). "The 50 best albums of the 2010s". MTV. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  44. ↑ "Overgrown by James Blake". iTunes Store UK. Apple Inc. January 2013. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
  45. 1 2 ジェイムス・ブレイク – オーヴァーグロウン [James Blake – Overgrown] (in Japanese). Universal Music Japan. Retrieved 21 April 2013.
  46. ↑ "Australiancharts.com – James Blake – Overgrown". Hung Medien. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
  47. ↑ "ARIA Dance – Week Commencing 15th April 2013" (PDF). The ARIA Report (1207): 17. 15 April 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 May 2013. Retrieved 5 February 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  48. ↑ "Austriancharts.at – James Blake – Overgrown" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 17 April 2013.
  49. ↑ "Ultratop.be – James Blake – Overgrown" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
  50. ↑ "Ultratop.be – James Blake – Overgrown" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
  51. ↑ "Top Kombiniranih – Tjedan 20. 2013" [Top Combined – Week 20, 2013]. Top of the Shops (in Croatian). Archived from the original on 24 December 2016. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  52. ↑ "Danishcharts.dk – James Blake – Overgrown". Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  53. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – James Blake – Overgrown" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
  54. ↑ "Lescharts.com – James Blake – Overgrown". Hung Medien. Retrieved 24 April 2013.
  55. ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – James Blake – Overgrown" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  56. ↑ "Official Cyta-IFPI Charts – Top-75 Albums Sales Chart (Εβδομάδα: 17/2013)" (in Greek). IFPI Greece. Archived from the original on 11 May 2013. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
  57. ↑ "Irish-charts.com – Discography James Blake". Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  58. ↑ "Italiancharts.com – James Blake – Overgrown". Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  59. ↑ ジェイムス・ブレイクのアルバム売り上げランキング [James Blake album sales ranking] (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved 21 April 2013.
  60. ↑ "Charts.nz – James Blake – Overgrown". Hung Medien. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
  61. ↑ "Norwegiancharts.com – James Blake – Overgrown". Hung Medien. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
  62. ↑ "Portuguesecharts.com – James Blake – Overgrown". Hung Medien. Retrieved 21 April 2013.
  63. ↑ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  64. ↑ "2013년 18주차 Album Chart" (in Korean). Gaon Music Chart. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  65. ↑ "Spanishcharts.com – James Blake – Overgrown". Hung Medien. Retrieved 21 April 2013.
  66. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – James Blake – Overgrown". Hung Medien. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
  67. ↑ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  68. ↑ "James Blake Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  69. ↑ "James Blake Chart History (Top Dance/Electronic Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  70. ↑ "ARIA Charts – End Of Year Charts – Top 50 Dance Albums 2013". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
  71. ↑ "Jaaroverzichten 2013 – Albums" (in Dutch). Ultratop. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
  72. ↑ "Album Top-100 2013". Hitlisten.NU (in Danish). Archived from the original on 4 February 2014. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
  73. ↑ "End of Year 2013" (PDF). UKChartsPlus. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  74. ↑ "Top Dance/Electronic Albums – Year-End 2013". Billboard. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
  75. ↑ "Danish album certifications – James Blake – James Blake". IFPI Danmark. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  76. ↑ "British album certifications – James Blake – James Blake". British Phonographic Industry. 11 July 2014.
  77. ↑ "Record roundup: Where nominated artist sales stand before the annual Grammy awards". Nielsen. 24 January 2014. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  78. ↑ "James Blake Store – Overgrown". Getmusic. Universal Music Australia. Archived from the original on 22 July 2013. Retrieved 21 April 2013.
  79. ↑ "James Blake | Overgrown" (in German). Universal Music Germany. Retrieved 21 April 2013.
  80. ↑ "Blake,james – Overgrown". Tower Records Ireland. Retrieved 21 April 2013.
  81. ↑ "Overgrown". Amazon. Retrieved 21 April 2013.
  82. ↑ "Overgrown – James Blake" (in French). Fnac. Retrieved 21 April 2013.
  83. ↑ "Overgrown – James Blake" (in Swedish). CDON.se. Retrieved 21 April 2013.
  84. ↑ "James Blake – Overgrown" (in Italian). Internet Bookshop Italia. Retrieved 21 April 2013.
  85. ↑ "James Blake – Overgrown" (in Polish). Universal Music Poland. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 21 April 2013.
  86. ↑ "James Blake: Overgrown". Republic Records. Archived from the original on 3 May 2013. Retrieved 21 April 2013.
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