Blake is a kind of an odd guy. He basically created this album out of whole cloth in his bedroom or something; it’s all weird electronic sounds, keyboards and clicking electronic percussion. He sings along with it in a very odd croon that’s kind of half Jeff Buckley & half Chris Martin, if combining those two somehow managed to create a not very compelling voice. The music is dark and kind of insular, I guess, if not really minimal, except in patches. He’s trying and occasionally succeeding at creating a dark, chilly feel, but unfortunately, the album is just pretty sterile and occasionally actually annoying in its weird electronic sound effects. The lyrics aren’t really of any interest and Blake has no gift at all for melodies, just sort of singing in a very odd way that almost sounds like he’s making up the melodies as he goes along. The album does occasionally work. The second track, I Am Sold, is easily the best, a genuinely grim and chilling electronic workout with the repeated phrase, “We lay nocturnal/speculate what we feel.” That lyric may be pretentious, but it’s well used here and it also kind of sums up what I think Blake wanted the album to be. The fourth track, Take a Fall for Me, is odd and kind of intriguing with a guest rap from RZA; it’s very odd to hear someone rapping over beds of synths that are, for the bulk of the song, really rhythmless. But tracks like DLM & Digital Lion are just frustrating and annoying tumults of noise; others, like Our Love Comes Back & To the Last, are just aimless, minimal numbers where it seems Blake almost couldn’t be bothered to really finish the songs or the arrangements. Anyway, this album got terrific acclaim when it came out in 2013, but I didn’t take to it at all. Strongly recommended against. 1 ½ stars.
tl;dr – strange, electronic album features weak vocals, weak lyrics and music that is too often just unpleasant; attempts a kind of chilly darkness, but achieves it only rarely. 1 ½ stars.