Okay, Balancethony Platano here, the Internet's busiest music nerd, and it's time for a review of this new James Blake album, Trying Times.

Here we have the newest, the 7th full-length LP from singer, producer, songwriter Mr. James Blake, who is really on an impressive run as of late. Because after we transitioned into the 2020s, James saw fit to give us the record Friends That Break Your Heart, which was an interesting change of pace for him considering that it was more focused on on a singer-songwriter type of build. Which, again, surprising, even though James's ballads and angelic voice have for a long time been a core appeal of his sound and his catalog. But he rarely digs into this side of his musicality so deeply that he allows you to kinda forget about his producer chops or his roots in the electronic music scene.

But again, on Friends he really leaned into that, and in my opinion it was the better for it as an album and it resulted in one of James's best works. However, following this, James quickly ran right back to putting out an amalgamation of spacey, deconstructed, left-field dance and electronic pieces that sometimes ran very abstract, that sometimes ran a little ambient on Playing Robots into Heaven. And there are truly some stunning and otherworldly moments on this record, especially the title track.

But following this, James is heading back into more of a tuneful direction with Trying Times and an independent one too, as this project is being released through Good Boy Records.

And if I may say so myself, after following James's work for such a long time and reviewing pretty much all of his major projects, I think Trying Times is one of his most captivating collections of songs so far, many of which reflect on the death and the current state of love, of human emotion even, in an age of incredible suffering and impenetrable darkness. And though James has never overtly been super political in his in his music, I feel like he's doing on this record what many of the greatest artists that we've ever known do, and that's speak to the times that we exist in, answering to a despondency that I know many are feeling, advocating not just for love but maintaining our humanity and connections to each other in the midst of all this.

We have the "Death of Love", which is a haunting number with subterranean bass, ghostly effects, mournful vocal harmony sections too, and wonderful lyrics that speak to the confusion and the disorientation that one might feel when thinking about how exactly we got here. And while the track does have very slow and patient pacing, it is still an emotionally intense performance, and a very cohesive one too.

Following this we have "I Had a Dream She Took My Hand" which is a dreamy love song in 3, and I love the way that Jayme tosses in this little sample of a doo-wop song right at the start of the track that he's clearly pulling musical inspiration from. And it's more of an interpolation than a fully reconstructed cover, as James takes a lot of his own surreal lyrical liberties, on this musical motif here on this track, and expands the song into an entirely different universe by the end of it, blurring the lines between the idea of originality but also inspiration, as he most definitely makes the ideas he borrowed from the original his own.

And speaking of unlikely inspiration for James, the title track features a lot of chill acoustic guitar passages, relaxed drums, low-key organ chords, and very weary vocals. He's really giving us a straightforward acoustic indie ballad, and his vocals of course work really well within this context. Meanwhile, "Make Something Up" sounds kinda like we're hearing more music from the same James Blake-fronted indie band, but now they're headlining Coachella, with a much bigger sound and heavier guitar passages, a much sadder chorus too, as James's writing on this track has some real darkness to it, reflecting on what you do in order to work through some of the tougher and more unpredictable unequal moments, maybe in a relationship, the ones that may cause a disconnect or total silence between people.

"Didn't Come To Argue" is a fantastic crossover with Monica Martin, which, like "I Had a Dream", has a combination of original work and samples too that intertwine beautifully and seamlessly, sometimes making it difficult to tell where one is starting and the other is ending, as there are clearly some original vocals that are in the mix on this track, but they're kind of pitched and stretched and altered much in the same way that James may use a sample he found elsewhere.

But yeah, again, James is essentially writing a song here based off of these, like, notions of a vintage vocal pop tune, but in such a clean, eerie, open, spacious, gorgeous, elegant way that leaves so much room for his vocals to shine. Like, the moments here where he hits this falsetto, like when he's singing "in the middle of time" like, "I'm gonna die!" And then when the strings come in — ahh! The bouncy beat switch-up and Monica Martin on the back end of the track is incredibly impressive too. It's an amazing song. All around. Really, like, some of the most beautiful 4 minutes of music James has ever released.

Now, I will say, past this point, the second half of this album does get a little choppy. While I do think Dave and James Blake are a very sensible team-up, uh, given the kind of emotional range of their respective albums, for the most part, I don't know, Dave's presence on this record just breaks the momentum of it up a little bit too much for my taste. And look, this track I think is not the only one guilty of that to some degree.

We also have "Obsession", which is a very short transitional moment that is pretty while it's on, but does not leave that much of an impression. Then, "Rest of Your Life" — dance break! Though, aesthetically, it is just as beautiful and pristine as nearly everything else here, but still, the track does sound like angels spinning in a cathedral. I mean, like setting up a DJ booth in the pulpit and just transitioning house classics into each other, with bouncy synth lines flying in every direction.

I mean, again, it is a beautiful track, and I do like the messaging in the song about spending your lives together, that does play into the greater themes of the song. I mean, there are notes of consistency here, but still, the style switch does feel a little random.

Then, while "Through The High Wire" is a pretty solid ballad all around, I do question how much the fragmented progressions and glitchy embellishments really add to the song. This is a track I think could have been either stripped back or complemented with more traditional instrumentation, much in the same way many other tracks previous to it were, and maybe it would have had more impact.

Then "Feel It Again" is another song that I feel like is showcasing a lot of potential. It's a beautiful vocal performance, but its brevity I think prevents it from leaving a lasting impact on me. Thankfully, though, James does come through with a strong closer that not only, you know, features a great climax and some intricate musical compositions, but lyrically it does tie up the greater themes of the album very well. So even if the immediate lead-up to the finish of this album was not as strong as the first leg, at least it stuck the very end of the landing.

But yeah, overall I really think James is operating on another level creatively as of late, and it's been great to see him just be so consistent, so creative, simultaneously leaning into sounds and aesthetics and familiar musical ideas that we know he does best, but then also finding new ways to push the boundaries of what sounds like a good quality, great James Blake cut. Like in the way that he kind of makes interesting use of certain features and samples on this project, and the consistent lyrical themes throughout this album too.

Because truth be told, this is one of James's most focused albums lyrically, for sure. So yeah, all that coming together is pretty much leaving me at a light 8 on this one.

Anthony Fantano, James Blake. Forever.