James Blake – Fire The Editor

Album : Playing Robots Into Heaven

Label : Republic Records – Polydor Records
© 2023 UMG Recordings, Inc. (A Republic Records / Polydor Records Release)

By being everywhere, he perhaps had the impression of getting lost. Having become a major producer in the music industry, we have seen James Blake on the biggest projects in recent years, high-stakes records like Travis Scott’s comeback album Utopia in July 2023, or Rosalía’s Motomami the year former. The year before, he scored his biggest commercial success with Friends That Break Your Heart, led by the single Coming Back (featuring SZA). So it was time for a return to his roots for the Englishman who emerged at the very beginning of the 2010s, riding the ephemeral post-dubstep wave alongside Mount Kimbie or SBTRKT, on spearhead labels like Hessle Audio and Hemlock or the Belgian R&S, who published his acclaimed second EP CMYK in 2010.

A return of James Blake 1.0 therefore, with nods to the English bass music scene, that of its origins, between the dub stepper of the excellent Loading (with the English singer Judie Tzuke, known for her hit Stay with Me till Dawn in 1979), the grime single Big Hammer, or even Fall Back, a tribute to the hushed beats of Burial. He even goes back a little further in the history of British dance music with the more techno Tell Me, with this beat that builds at full speed and this rave synth loop that disappears into the air. And what about this celestial finale, Playing Robots Into Heaven, a piece which, against all expectations, lives up to its name perfectly? James Blake without fuss or expectations, 100% natural!
© Smaël Bouaici/Qobuz