Humanizing the Voices of Our Times – Cameron Blake Releases New LP ‘Censor the Silence’ on October 30.
Michigan based songwriter Cameron Blake returns with a new gritty, politically charged album Censor the Silence on Friday, October 30. The 10-track LP draws inspiration from a variety of subjects including Greta Thunberg’s speech to the UN, (How Dare You), Parkland gun control activist Emma Gonzalez (Six Minutes Twenty Seconds), the Syrian Civil War (Chemical War Child), the art of Francisco Goya (Only Goya) and the folk tale ‘Chicken Little’ (Henny Penny).
Blake wrote these songs while on a retreat at The Abbey of Gethsemani, a silent Trappist Monastery in Kentucky, best known as the home of writer and activist Thomas Merton. Of the experience, Blake writes, “I was in a dark place and needed to heal, so I went to the most quiet and structured place that I could imagine. The silence was deafening, but I had to face what was going on inside. I woke up with the monks at 3 a.m. for Vigils, sat in the back of the cathedral and, in the words of Hemingway, opened up my journal ‘and bled.’” The result is a collection of songs arranged for a rock combo (electric guitar, piano, bass and drums) with deep grooves, angular guitar riffs and piercing harmonies accompanying Blake’s signature prose.
Censor the Silence is the completion of a trilogy of albums beginning with the solo acoustic Alone on the World Stage (2015) and the heavily orchestrated Fear Not (2017). Both albums garnered international acclaim, made numerous ‘Best of the Year’ lists, and were featured in publications such as Folk Radio UK, The Huffington Post, No Depression, Cashbox Canada and Paste.
The first music video “Only Goya” (Not Yet Released)
Pictures of kings & fractured kingdoms. Of power & control. Of war & plagues. Of envy & human vulnerability. Of madness. “The sleep of reason produces monsters.” Goya’s words: ‘Yo lo vi’ – “I saw it” and its contrary ‘No se puede mirar’ – “One cannot look at this.” This is our tension too.
CENSOR THE SILENCE TRACK LIST:
releases October 30, 2020
Music and lyrics by Cameron Blake (BMI)
Produced by Cameron Blake
Cameron Blake: vocals, piano (track 5)
Andrew Saliba: electric & acoustic guitar
Martin Spence: piano, hammond b3 & rhodes
Ian Thompson: electric & upright bass
Andrew Szumowski: drums & percussion
Debra Perry & Majestic Praise: vocals (track 1 & 5)
Patty PerShayla: vocals (track 2)
Jen Fortosis: vocals (track 8 & 2)
Engineered by Ian Gorman (La Luna Recording and Sound) & Drew Elliot (Hope College)
Mixed by Drew Elliot (Hope College)
Mastered by Josh Kaufman (Local Legend Recording, Grand Rapids, MI)
Album Design by Loren Johnson
Album photography by Eric Bouwens
PAST PRESS:
“Blake’s mellow tenor displays variables within variables: soft articulation blended with singular inflection instilling the lyrics with passionate restraint and unobtrusive delicacy of allusion. It’s a voice that calls to mind Art Garfunkel amalgamated with Nick Cave, fragile, beautiful and evocative.” -Huffington Post
“Blake’s breathtaking eye for significant detail and his skill for getting inside of characters to reveal flesh and blood human lives is nearly unparalleled among modern songwriters, no matter if they are mainstream or indie.” -No Depression
“As a solo singer with just guitar he harnesses a very striking and emotive power, both through his prose-like lyrics and his delivery which carry the weight of those words. He has an immediacy that’s impossible to ignore. This one man show deserves a standing ovation.” -Folk Radio UK
“Fear Not aims high, but he ends up doing justice to his ambition by paying close attention to saying what he wants to say in just the right dramatic light. It makes for one of 2017’s most interesting studio releases.” -Cashbox Magazine
“His songs make your mind soar, soar all over our uncharted landscape. Yes, these 12 songs are profound. And require repeated listens to allow their poetry to sink in.” -Dusty Wright’s Culture Catch
Michigan based songwriter Cameron Blake returns with a new gritty, politically charged album Censor the Silence on Friday, October 30. The 10-track LP draws inspiration from a variety of subjects including Greta Thunberg’s speech to the UN, (How Dare You), Parkland gun control activist Emma Gonzalez (Six Minutes Twenty Seconds), the Syrian Civil War (Chemical War Child), the art of Francisco Goya (Only Goya) and the folk tale ‘Chicken Little’ (Henny Penny).