Trying Times by James Blake | Album Review

The seventh album from the English producer extraordinaire combines the best elements of his past work into musical magic

Credit: Good Boy Records

Since the start of his career, James Blake has been lauded for his ability to turn a DJ deck or a DAW into a tool of high art.

His first two albums were each nominated for the prestigious Mercury Prize, winning the award in 2013 for his sophomore LP Overgrown. Music critic and theorist Mark Fisher wrote of his music at that time thusly: “Listening back to Blake’s records in chronological sequence is like hearing a ghost gradually assume material form; or it’s like hearing the song form (re)coalescing out of digital ether.”

From there, Blake branched out as a premier producer to the stars, working with big names like Beyonce, Kendrick Lamar, and Rosalia, to name just a few. All the while, he continued crafting his solo work, leaning more and more toward a pop singer-songwriter style, and away from the experimental electronica that defined his earliest work. His 2021 record Friends That Break Your Heart represents the biggest departure from his roots, featuring some of his first ever songs to have only natural instruments.

Five years after Friends, Blake seems to have found a healthy balance between these two extremes with his seventh LP Trying Times. He creates some of his warmest electronic pieces to date, while also not completely abandoning that more naturalistic approach.

One of my favorite things about Trying Times is the way Blake uses classic samples as the musical foundation of a song, before taking them into a totally different universe of sound and meaning. For a prime example, look to the angelic “I Had A Dream She Took My Hand,” which samples “It Was Only A Dream” by Thee Sinseers. The original song discusses a love that is perfect and unattainable, a lyrical path Blake follows up until the third verse. Then, suddenly, it’s like he was struck with a mind-degrading illness, as the image of his loved one slips away, despite her beckoning him not to go, utterly beautiful in music and message:

Oh, I had a dream she took my hand

She began to dissolve along with her soul

I couldn’t remember her facе, remember hеr name

As I was losing control, she motioned to say

Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go.

“Didn’t Mean To Argue,” featuring Monica Martin, also weaves an excellent sample into a larger musical tapestry. Pulling from Winfield Parker’s 2016 song “A Fallen Star,” Blake uses the melody as the basis for his own chorus, but completely reharmonizes it, and recontextualizes it into a song about finding someone to escape society with. The transition between the lushly orchestrated A section and the bouncier B section is one of my favorite moments in Blake’s entire oeuvre; his soaring falsetto meeting rich strings and glittering piano feels like pure serotonin rushing through my synapses.

But “Rest Of Your Life” features my favorite sample, a clip of Barbara Streisand’s rendition of “What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life?,” a gorgeous tune that I was thrilled to hear Blake pull from. He transforms the wistful tune into a dance reverie, a romantic fantasy of wanting to spend your life with one person, with glittering, ascending synth runs and dreamy vocal layers.

Going beyond samples, the title track proves Blake doesn’t need to hide behind production magic to make amazing music. Backed almost entirely by natural instruments like guitar, live drums, and horns, this is one of the most listenable and repeatable songs the man has ever crafted. Over top, he sings of how his love for his partner sustains him during these increasingly turbulent and, yes, trying times we’re living through:

I’m an eyesore

You’re a sight for

Sore eyes

You’re the life force

You’re the life force

I would diе for

I would die for, stay alive for

As we go through trying times.

As we near the end of the album, though, the pacing grows increasingly choppy, not helped by the addition of “Obsession” and “Feel It Again” in the last five songs. While both sound just fine while they play, each cuts off after barely two minutes, before thrusting us into a new sound and idea. I wish these tracks had either been fully fleshed out, or cut altogether.

Fortunately, any complaints I could possibly have about Trying Times are wiped away by the beauty of closing track “Just A Little Higher.” In its quiet moments, it’s among the most delicate music Blake has ever crafted. At its climax, it packs the emotional wallop of a Rachmaninoff concerto. You might expect this to be a fantastically romantic love song, but it’s actually a call to class consciousness. It’s a recognition of all the things us common people have in common, and an invocation to direct the righteous anger we feel about the state of the world toward those truly responsible: the multi-billionaires hoarding wealth like dragons, and using their vast resources to manipulate us into bickering with each other:

Just a little higher

Adjust your sights

’Cause they’re playing us

From a great height.

Production: 9/10

Lyrics: 8/10

Songwriting: 8/10

Overall: 8.5/10

Favorites: I Had A Dream She Took My Hand, Trying Times, Didn’t Come To Argue, Rest Of Your Life, Just A Little Higher

Thank you for reading! What did you think of this album? Feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts and recommendations.