Cameron Blake - Fear Not
Residing with his family in the
Michigan area, Fear Not represents, in some important respects, a look back on
the first quarter of Cameron Blake’s journey through life. Fear is something
that he has a close acquaintance with – a near nervous breakdown marked his
years in music school and Blake’s willingness to experience life at multiple
levels has put him in contact with men and women who experience daily fears
about what we normally take for granted. This profound understanding of life
and self informs the dozen songs included on his second album Fear Not and
there’s an extended array of sounds that goes into making these songs
memorable. Cameron Blake might benefit from a music school education, but those
academic pursuits never mean his music and lyrical content is staid, studied,
and otherwise lifeless. Instead, it helps shape his approach to songs like
those found on Fear Not and gives him the grounding to explore large themes
like the influence of fear in a near-conceptual fashion. He’s utilized a vast
assortment of instruments, as well, for the album and a supporting cast of
nearly fifty musicians to help bring this release off.
“Fear Not” stands out for a lot of
reasons, but one of the key things distinguishing it for listeners is the vocal
melody. Despite his music school training as a violinist, Blake obviously has a
keen ear for how to arrange vocals in an interesting way. It helps get a
plaintive, yet eloquent, lyric over to any even greater degree and the strings
bring another colorful layer to the performance. There are a couple of
occasions on Fear Not when a pronounced Americana influence comes through and
it’s far from hackneyed and the first is “After Sally”. Instead, the same
nuance Blake brings to bear on the other styles casts a long shadow here and
makes the tracks stand out for their low key artistry. One of the best tracks
on the release “The Only Diamond” has a strong musical pedigree backed up with
the most dramatic chorus payoff on Fear Not and, certainly, one of its finest
story lyrics. There’s some jazz overtones that come through over the course of
the album’s track listing but few of them embody them more clearly than the
song “Queen Bee”. This song is a little weaker lyrically, but it’s one of the
more interesting musical arrangements and gets off to a fine start.
“Tiananmen Square” is a song that
should serve as a glaring example of Blake’s range as a songwriter. He has the
rare gift for taking such a pivotal historical event, immortalized in the
picture of a lone figure facing down a military tank, and making it speak to
personal history as well as the global. This song is the most crystallized
vision of orchestral styled popular song he offers the audience on Fear Not.
The album’s next flirtation with an Americana/alt-country sort of sound comes
with the song “Old Red Barn”, but it’s another hybrid in the end when Blake
brings unexpected touches like horns into play. “Wailing Wall” foregoes any
drumming in favor of a wafting musical accompaniment that some people might not
think, initially, is enough to sustain the song, but it does so spectacularly.
“Philip Seymour Hoffman” is another wonderful song, coming late on the album,
but sparkling with another inventive vocal melody and backing that mix the now
familiar style in a different way. He shifts the mood again on the album’s
penultimate tune “Sandtown” has its musical dynamics arranged in a fashion we
normally associate with rock songs and transitions dramatically from a
restrained opening into a maelstrom of sound during the song’s middle and into
the second half. It settles once again before concluding. Cameron Blake’s Fear
Not is a beautifully rendered musical work with obvious care going into each of
its dozen songs. It’s hard to fathom where he might go from here, but rarely
has a work seemingly meant so much to its creator – the sincerity is evident in
every note.
Scott Wigley
