James Blake, like Laura Marling, emerged in the early 2010s as a kind of poster child for a particular strain of elevated British pop: austere, emotionally literate, faintly academic music that seemed to hover somewhere between cutting edge modernism and traditional singer-songwriter confession.
More than a decade on, he has largely stayed within that sound world. On ‘Trying Times’, his seventh album and first self-released effort, Blake tweaks the formula rather than reinventing it, blending his ghostly production style with a newfound affection for classic soul and R&B.
The title track is the clearest example of that shift. Built around syrupy chords and a gently rising vocal, Trying Times feels like an old-school soul ballad that could just about sit in the repertoire of Adele or Olivia Dean.
Blake’s falsetto stretches the melody into something fragile but grand, elevating a slightly familiar sentiment - “You’re the life force I would die for… stay alive for” - into a convincing centrepiece. It’s lush by Blake’s standards, yet still wrapped in the airy melancholy that his fans adore.
Elsewhere, the record veers between intimacy and eccentricity. Walk Out Music opens proceedings in a swirl of warped electronics and blunt self-talk (“You’re not good to anyone dead”), a reminder that Blake’s instincts still lean toward the strange and slightly unsettling. Meanwhile, Make Something Up is one of the album’s quieter highlights: a smoky, conversational love song that captures the half-philosophical nonsense of long relationships, where sincerity and absurdity blur together.
At times, Blake’s tendency toward earnest introspection can drift into something faintly irritating, especially when the lyrics circle ideas rather than landing them. But musically he remains an unusually gifted arranger, able to make sparse textures feel rich and emotionally charged. ‘Trying Times’ may occasionally test your patience, but the craft is undeniable. Even when Blake sounds frustratingly familiar, the songs still shimmer with a distinctive quality few of his peers can match.
James Blake Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Mon March 23 2026 - BRIGHTON Chalk
Tue March 24 2026 - LONDON Union Chapel
Thu March 26 2026 - BRISTOL St Georges
Fri March 27 2026 - MARLBOROUGH College Memorial Hall
Sat March 28 2026 - KINGSTON UPON THAMES Circuit
Mon March 30 2026 - LIVERPOOL Jacaranda Baltic
Tue March 31 2026 - SHEFFIELD Foundry Sheffield
Tue September 29 2026 - LONDON O2 Academy Brixton
Wed October 21 2026 - GLASGOW Galvanizers SWG3
Sun October 25 2026 - MANCHESTER New Century
Wed October 28 2026 - BRISTOL O2 Academy Bristol
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