“Trying Times” finds James Blake caught between two instincts: the quiet piano and synth ballads that made him famous and the electronic experimentation that still pushes his music forward. Blake has always occupied this space: a producer-songwriter who builds intimacy out of sparse arrangements and processed vocals, but who’s never content staying still. That tension didn’t appear out of nowhere.
In 2024, Blake surprised listeners with “Bad Cameo,” a collaborative album with Lil Yachty that pushed his sound further into genre-blurring territory, combining his atmospheric production with trap influence. While the album divided some listeners, it showed Blake’s refusal to be confined by his own template.
The resulting record, Blake’s seventh studio album, feels like Blake tying together both styles. Instead of committing fully to the ambient soundscape of “Bad Cameo,” he pulls elements of that looseness into something much more intimate and focused. Throughout the album, Blake blends his signature synth production alongside distorted vocal layers while still carving individual paths for each song. “Doesn’t Just Happen” features a verse from UK rapper Dave and showcases how Blake can make space for a collaborator without losing what makes his production distinctly his own.
Another highlight is “Through The High Wire,” a solo track that partially traces its roots to an unreleased collaboration with Kanye West in 2022. While West’s involvement was scrapped, what remains is entirely Blake’s own: layered falsetto drifting over spacious production that feels like the direct precursor to the ambient territory he’d later explore on “Bad Cameo” two years later. The track bridges his past experiments with his current vision, carrying a quiet, tense stillness — a calm before a storm.
What makes “Trying Times” remarkable is how unforced it feels. After years of friction with labels and speaking openly about the inequities of streaming services, Blake parted ways with Republic Records and released this album independently. There are no obvious concessions to any particular audience, no reaching for a crossover moment. The detours — the sessions with West, the Yachty collaboration and his growing disillusionment with the music industry — all feed into the album without weighing it down. “Trying Times” is the sound of an artist finally turning their expertise inward, resulting in a cohesive statement that signals a rebirth.
