This man has an above-average voice

What you're looking at is a picture of Sir James of Blakenstock, sitting behind his keyboard, getting ready to play a session in the BBC 6 Music kitchen. Tidy, isn't it?

About two seconds after this photo was taken, James politely reminded us that, since all of his music is electronic, we wouldn't hear anything if we remained standing around next to him. So we went to an adjacent room, where we could hear the output of the mixing desk, and peered at him through a plexiglass door.

I don't know about you, but I've never seen anything quite so captivating through a sheet of plexiglass in my life. And I've stood at a bus stop with Moira Stewart, so I'm pretty jaded when it comes to plexiglass-celebrity interfaces.

Why? Because the most amazing sound comes out of this boy's mouth. Pure, soulful, tender. A rare, rare thing of delicate beauty. No wonder his music is so sparse - there is literally no need to embellish the vocals. If you haven't seen him play live, I beseech you to do so as soon as possible.

The 6 Music session is available on the station's website for the next 6 days. Alternatively, you can use the player below to listen to James's performance from last night's Zane Lowe programme. The subtlety is ruined somewhat by the crazy-ass compression Radio 1 run over their entire output, but you'll get the general idea.

James Blake Maida Vale session

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