Trying Times - James Blake (2026)

The first time I heard James Blake was his big hit Retrograde from his second album. That song is an all time favorite of mine that I could put on nearly any time and enjoy it. It’s a hard act to follow when an artist has wormed his way into my brain the way Retrograde has. So I suppose it’s only natural that I’ve enjoyed a lot of Blake’s subsequent work without really finding that deep spark I initially had.

Don’t get me wrong: I have liked a lot of what Blake has done. He’s maintained the mix of moody and disconcerting electronics along with his soaring blue eyed soul tenor voice.

He’s just as at home as a producer, as his tracks on Assume Form show with features from Rosalia, Andre 3000, and Metro Boomin. His most recent release was the deeply weird and compelling full-album collab with Lil Yachty, Bad Cameo. The guy is no stranger to high concept art music.

That’s why it’s surprising and unblancing to hear him release this new collection of something approaching standard modern soul music.

There’s still plenty of electronic bite and heavy processing, but Blake let’s his voice play more as the human instrument it is rather than trying to disguise it under layers of effects.

It’s never quite open-and-shut acoustic soul. You still get a little boom-bap sonic treatment, some weirdly manipulated vocal samples as backup, and plenty of synths that range from fairly organic to otherworldly.

Death Of Love - starts pretty unassumingly and then builds into some weird electronic dread

Trying Times - the most straight-up modern soul track here

Through The High Wire - a great track that punches its way out of the wet paper sack of studio effects and into something much more transcendent.