The Mystical James Blake Awes at Terminal 5
May 8th, 2013

Words by Andrea K. Castillo / Photo by Seher Sikandar
The night of Tuesday, May 7th was one of musical splendor. The evening hosted the first of two high-demand New York shows at Terminal 5 for the future soul master that is James Blake. The UK crooner brought out a crowd that is unheard of at such shows, a mass of actual cool people. You had your hipsters clad in dark framed glasses and five-panel hats, college bros that are venturing out to new musical territories, tastemakers, and couples that danced to a rhythm that no one else heard. This group was mature and well attuned to Blake's galaxy-surfing sound.
His set began a minute early, at 8:59 PM to be exact, with an attention-grabbing introduction of “Unluck”. The stage was clad in blue-green light adding a dreamlike quality to Blake's at-times haunting vocals. Positioned to the right of center-stage, Blake's performance was not focused on his ego, but that of meticulous live-sampling and eclectic sound.






