James Blake: Times Trying review – Platitudes about politics and Kanye can’t detract from an excellent album | James Blake

HeyWith all the things you might expect from a James Blake album – gorgeous minimalism, plaintive vocal distortion, and trappings of good, good hip-hop – the chin-up social and political commentary probably isn’t one of them. But as the title suggests, our current predicament is exactly what the 37-year-old aims to address on his seventh solo record. Unfortunately, the clichéd preachy sentiments (“Everybody’s getting different information / So how can we get on the same side?”) sit awkwardly amid the ethereal melancholy he perfected long ago when he was the poster boy for London’s 2000s indie electronic scene.

However, later, Blake became better known for his collaborations with major American rappers, including Kanye West: the duo recorded a succession of yet-to-be-released songs in 2022. And through High Wire – apparently a reuse of one of those songs – it is anointed as a bold defense of his disgraced former bandmate. “People love the story,” Blake says, explaining that “the whispers change” until “we all fall from glory.”

Coincidentally, you can probably detect West’s influence on Trying Times as well, through exciting old-school soul samples and surprising and exciting stylistic shifts. Unconvincing lyrics aside, it’s always an excellent album. The hooks are strikingly fresh yet wildly familiar – an addictive combination – and Blake’s tendency towards morbidity is halted by all sorts of inventive dissonance: Days Go By repurposes Dizzee Rascal’s classic acid grime I Luv U; Grunge guitars stifle the action of something; Dusty Springfield’s haunted sample turns you into the dancefloor trance of the rest of your life. “Hard Times” may not have much to say about our times, but the tunes are definitely worth a listen.