James Blake releases New EP Before, featuring four new dance tracks which acts as a breakaway from his more emotional 2019 album Assume Form which gained him notoriety internationally when hitting #21 on the US Billboard’s highest-charting albums of 2019.
Songs off the newly released EP Before include I Keep Calling, Before, Do You Ever and Summer of Now. All of which are high-tempo yet mellow beats that use Blake’s own vocals, something that he openly expressed he was not previously fully comfortable doing. Blake is also a renowned DJ and award-winning producer and his break into songwriting and vocals is now in full bloom throughout this new EP.
Along with dropping official visualizer videos for the other three tracks on his EP on YouTube yesterday, Blake released a music video for his title track Before. Blake calls this his Official Quarantine Video and features multiple professional dancers performing routines in the safety of their homes over a film of Blake singing vocals in his home studio. This is yet another in the long list of creative ways that artists are able to share their work with fans during the restrictions of the Covid-19 global pandemic.
The London-born musician was first recognized for his work on multiple EP’s in 2010 called CMYK and Klavierwerke, which gained him a cult popularity among underground musicians in the UK. These short EP’s were recorded in young Blake’s basement, for which he insisted his new record-label allow him to do. EP releases are not knew for Blake, in fact they are his beginnings.
He later released a self-titled full-length album in 2011 which received critical recognition and a much larger fan base. His 2013 album Overgrown finally helped him gain international attention, leading him to win the Mercury Prize in music for the first time. Blake released two more albums from 2016-2019 before heading back to his roots with this new EP.
Along with praise for his own music, Blake has worked with many well-known musicians as a part-producer, working with big names such as Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar and Travis Scott. His production work has led to many Brit Award nominations and eventually made him a Grammy winner.
Already many fellow musicians and producers, including Finneas from work with Billie Eilish, have rushed to praise the new Before on social media and James Blake is now trending upward on Twitter setting the stage for a successful EP release for Blake.
Blake will before new EP and other DJ tracks at the Boiler Room Sessions this weekend, October 16th at 2200 BST. Listen to Blake’s new EP release on all streaming platforms.
