James Blake - Playing Robots Into Heaven (2023) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

Playing Robots Into Heaven follows the critically acclaimed Friends That Break Your Heart and will see James return to the electronic roots of his Hessle, Hemlock and R&S Records days.

For James Blake, making his sixth album felt like going home. Since emerging as a post-dubstep trailblazer in 2010, the electronic producer from the outskirts of London has explored a realm of different sounds including minimalist pop, trap beats, stark ballads, sparse chamber music, digitalized experimentation, and more, all while becoming a go-to collaborator for a wave of game-changing artists (Kendrick Lamar, Frank Ocean, Beyoncé, and Dave among them). On Playing Robots Into Heaven, though, he reconnects with the club sounds that fueled his early work—and a side of himself he felt compelled to tap back into. “It felt like, ‘Oh, I’m going to do the thing that I do really easily,’” Blake tells Apple Music. “Writing songs is definitely something I love doing, but it doesn’t come naturally to me. It’s really rewarding and challenging, but not my most natural thing. I think probably my most natural thing is collaging shit together.”

That’s the approach Blake employs on Playing Robots Into Heaven, a captivating record where twisted loops and warped samples intertwine with the melancholic warmth of Blake’s trademark piano chords, hypnotic hooks, and heavily treated vocals. Following a loose narrative arc of a night out raving—taking in the euphoric thrills, spills, ups, downs, and return to reality—it’s a heady trip. Creating it, Blake realized that putting yourself through the wringer to make a record doesn’t have to be the mark of a serious artist. “What I learned was that the feeling of ‘Is this too easy?’ is actually a good feeling,” he says. “It means you’re onto something, it means you are doing something right.”

Tracklist:
01. Asking To Break
02. Loading
03. Tell Me
04. Fall Back
05. He's Been Wonderful
06. Big Hammer
07. I Want You To Know
08. Night Sky
09. Fire The Editor
10. If You Can Hear Me
11. Playing Robots Into Heaven


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