James Blake is back with his seventh album. This is titled ‘Trying Times’ and will be available on March 13. Today he released his solid first preview, in which the Briton sings about the “death of love” over a gloomy sample of ‘You Want It Darker’, the song that anticipated the death of Leonard Cohen.
“Hineni, Hineni / I’m ready, my Lord,” Cohen sang in the 2016 song. In it, the singer-songwriter proclaimed to be ready for his death two months before it occurred. In ‘Death of Love’, Blake recycles the funereal sentiment of Cohen’s song to reflect on times in which love does not have so much prominence. However, unlike Leonard Cohen, we are not ready to let go of it.
Thus, Blake laments “the death of love” over a simple and hypnotic beat, aided by his auto-tuned voice. It is another floating song by the British, who with very little manages to deliver a piece that is as enveloping as it is catchy. The lyrics, on the other hand, are thought-provoking: “I don’t know how we got here,” he sings in the first lines.
The artist seems to be alluding to the entire society when he believes it is possible that we are “sleeping” or “walking towards the death of love.” This describes a world in which “everything feels different” and in which “people are losing interest” in love: “It has never seemed so difficult / Saying what you really think,” he says in the chorus.
Tracklist:
1.Walk Out Music
2.Death Of Love
3. I Had A Dream She Took My Hand
4. Trying Times
5. Make Something Up
6. Didn’t Come To Argue (ft. Monica Martin)
7. Days Go By
8. Doesn’t Just Happen (ft. Dave)
9. Obsession
10. Rest Of Your Life
11. Through The High Wire
12. Feel It Again
13. Just A Little Higher
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