Albums to watch

Trying Times

James Blake

Trying Times

Seventh album from the London-born singer-songwriter and electronic producer

ADM rating[?]

7.7

Label
Good Boy Records
UK Release date
13/03/2026
US Release date
13/03/2026
  1. 10.0 |   Dork

    Blake sounds energised by the room he has carved out for himself
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  2. 9.0 |   DIY

    A record that couldn’t be more consistently him
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  3. 8.0 |   Under The Radar

    While it certainly has its darker moments, Trying Times is never maudlin
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  4. 8.0 |   Slant Magazine

    A welcome addition to both Blake's discography and the anxious times we live in
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  5. 8.0 |   The Irish Times

    On his first LP since going independent, Blake blends stillness and beauty with quietly roiling rage
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  6. 8.0 |   The Independent

    This is the producer-songwriter’s first album as an independent artist – after he left Republic Records in 2024 – and the liberation is audible
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  7. 8.0 |   The Guardian

    Amid the stylistic shifts of Blake’s seventh record come samples of Dusty Springfield and Dizzee Rascal: gripping distractions from some preachy sentiments
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  8. 8.0 |   Clash

    ‘Trying Times’ doesn’t offer answers so much as companionship in uncertainty. Blake has long been fascinated by the fragile spaces between people. Here, he suggests that love isn’t what rescues us from those moments; it’s what convinces us to stay a little longer
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  9. 7.5 |   Northern Transmissions

    Over the course of a thirteen-track run, it becomes abundantly clear that James Blake truly, madly, deeply, believes in love
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  10. 7.4 |   Beats Per Minute

    It’s not Blake’s most immediate album, and probably not his most consistent. But it might be one of his most honest, not because it says more, but because it leaves more unsaid
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  11. 7.3 |   Spectrum Culture

    With the shackles of the majors thrown off, Trying Times seems like the most fun Blake has had in a while
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  12. 7.2 |   Pitchfork

    On his first self-released album, the producer and songwriter draws from pop music and classic R&B for a pleasantly all-over-the-place set about love and existential dread
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  13. 5.8 |   Paste Magazine

    The electronic artist’s first independent studio album is a scattershot splintering of ideas that gel together as often as they drift apart
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