The Bells Sketch

The songs on The Bells Sketch have a speed of around 72 beats per minute, which is considered slow for dance music.^[2] The title track of the EP features "playful" vocals, "erratic jazz piano basslines", and synthesizers.^[3] The song's vocals are a mix of samples and Blake's own voice. It opens with a violin-like sound, after which Blake starts singing. After each phrase, a "video-game noise" covers up the vocals. Halfway through the track, Blake's voice is drowned out by bass.^[2]

The next track, "Buzzard and Kestrel", starts with a mixture of muffled vocals and dog whistle melodies. The song stays this way for half its duration, until a cowbell is played. The song then fades out as it ends.^[3][4] It is influenced by lounge piano and Outkast snare patterns, and features some synthesizer.^[3] The album's final track, "Give a Man a Rod", is driven by claps sounding like drums, and vocals akin to Flying Lotus.^[3][4] A version without a drop was released in 2011, entitled "Give a Man a Rod (Second Version)".^[5]

The EP was critically acclaimed by reviewers. Mike Coleman of Fact gave The Bells Sketch 4 and a half "records" out of 5, saying "The Bells Sketch is a complex thing – beautiful and difficult, its glitch-peppered oddities are addictive, but bursting at the seams with a desire to experiment and a complete lack of compromise."^[4] Mike Powell of Pitchfork said of the EP: "I think it's both [brilliant and a high-concept mess], but I really like high-concept messes."^[2]

Resident Advisor also gave the album 4 and a half stars out of 5. Critic Oli Marlow said: "Deliciously weird, off-key and superbly layered, James Blake's debut outing on Hessle Audio manages to succinctly justify the hype his work is now receiving."^[3] In 2010, Pitchfork named The Bells Sketch the eighth best album of the year, along with fellow EPs CMYK and Klavierwerke; the website was "amazed" at how Blake released three EPs in one year, all of different styles.^[6]