James Blake marks Before with his first Boiler Room set since 2013

“Honestly it’s a really strange time to release music. I still want to give people music,” James Blake said. ‘Before’ is out now via Republic Records and Polydor Records, and across the EP he sets his ethereal vocals against 2-step rhythms. It is his first full release since last year’s ‘Assume Form’, which carried hip-hop and R&B collaborations with Travis Scott, Metro Boomin and André 3000. One of the four tracks here, ‘Do You Ever’, had already been previewed in a recent Cadillac commercial promoting the company’s 2021 Escalade. ‘I Keep Calling’ opens, the title track follows, and ‘Summer Of Now’ closes. Dominic Maker, of Mount Kimbie, whom Blake has worked with closely over the past few years, is featured on the record. You can stream and download it across every platform from today.

The EP returns the Grammy winner to the more club-oriented register that he developed in his early years behind the decks in London, and he is marking its release by going back to Boiler Room. He has not played a set there since 2013, and this one is scheduled for Friday, 16 October at 5:00 p.m. EST.