Perry Blake

On record Perry Blake is wide-shouldered, and not without a certain menace. In person he is quite slight, quite a sight. The Americans stare. The finger nails on one hand are painted dark blue; he is wearing a sweater under his suit; his shoes are burnished bright. He has alert blue eyes, perhaps they do elicit a certain menace. He has made a memorable record. It is sad and beautiful, shadowy and strong. The vocals were recorded in a church in Somerset. He has distilled this resonance of mahogany and austerity and there is an apropos spirituality. Strange, then, that these songs are sang by an atheist. Perry Blake has been around since the Middle Ages when he listened to songs by Leonard Cohen and Nick Drake. He