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10.0
127063
10.0 |
NME
The singer and producer's fifth album digs deeper into introspection, atop some of his most impressive production to date
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9.0
127092
9.0 |
DIY
A record that simultaneously expands on his delicate production and sees him fully embrace his singer-songwriter alter ego
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9.0
127098
9.0 |
Gigwise
Some of Blake's best writing in years
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8.0
127099
8.0 |
Vinyl Chapters
Inspired by a particularly difficult period for James, Friends that Break Your Heart is a beautifully executed album that exudes in innovation, revelations, and self-perceptiveness. James, thank you for another gem
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8.0
127091
8.0 |
The Music
Blake has achieved a rare consistency. But he's also cleared an alternative musical space to explore in future
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8.0
127079
8.0 |
The Arts Desk
His fifth album offers variety, defying the listener to box him in as hipper Lewis Capaldi-ish anxiety music
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8.0
127083
8.0 |
The FT
The singer-songwriter and producer opens up new ground with music both minimalist and varied on his latest album
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8.0
127085
8.0 |
The Observer
The singer-songwriter articulates the pain of lost friendships against a backdrop of chamber music and trap pop
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8.0
127057
8.0 |
The Independent
Against a gently picked acoustic guitar, the title track finally reveals his voice stripped of all studio disguises, to crack sweetly into a confession that, “In the end it was friends that broke my heart.” Few artists can make such heartbreak sound so pretty, while still reflecting on all its weirdness and complexity
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8.0
127075
8.0 |
Clash
The LP’s home stretch is up there with Blake’s best, not just in the tense penultimate title track and wet-cheeked closer ‘If I’m Insecure’, but on the lead single
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7.5
127068
7.5 |
Spectrum Culture
The album offers some of Blake’s strongest performances and production yet, which, combined with its relatively straightforward beauty, should be more than enough to quell any doubts that his music’s quality would dip with the sacrifice of his earlier experimentation
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7.5
127095
7.5 |
Beats Per Minute
The bravery in baring his soul should always be applauded and respected for the contemplation, and confrontation Blake has gone through has produced one of his most affecting works yet
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7.4
127094
7.4 |
Northern Transmissions
With feelings of falling and rising, love and loss, vulnerability and bravery, you feel like you’ve gone on quite a trip listening to his latest album. A success if not a triumph of an album
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7.0
127070
7.0 |
The Line Of Best Fit
James Blake remains a master of making heartbreak sound beautiful
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7.0
127077
7.0 |
musicOMH
Throughout Friends That Break Your Heart, Blake is trying on different sounds, different styles, and producing some good music along the way, but he ends the record still unsure of where he should be
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7.0
127065
7.0 |
Exclaim
Friends That Break Your Heart is James Blake delivering a crooning stream of consciousness that lays bare his thoughts for the world to hear, and he hasn't a care what you may think about them
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7.0
127116
7.0 |
All Music
Sounding like it was created from the other side of the crushing sadness that defined his earliest work, the album continues Blake's incremental shift to lighter material and songs that lean more into acceptance than torment
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7.0
127443
7.0 |
Under The Radar
Blake remains a truly unique force in modern music. And for that we should all remain utterly grateful
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6.6
127071
6.6 |
Pitchfork
A warm and even-keeled collection of ballads, this is James Blake’s most traditional album, but it offers little in the way of emotional insight
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6.0
127054
6.0 |
The Irish Times
The darkness is buoyed by some beautiful, melodic writing and spirited production on an album that, though perfectly serviceable, lacks the inventive spark of Blake’s best work
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6.0
127081
6.0 |
Evening Standard
Blake largely steers clear of starry collaborators for his fifth solo album
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5.0
127088
5.0 |
Crack
Unlike a lost friend, this is all just so instantly forgettable. For an album so apparently stuffed with feeling, it’s strange to be left so deeply unmoved. But then maybe – to borrow that old get-out clause – it’s not you, it’s me
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4.0
127183
4.0 |
Loud And Quiet
Where Blake’s past albums have sent analogue worlds into orbit, Friends That Break Your Heart instead feels like an office chair spinning into a discernible kaleidoscope of plastic and limbs
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