UK & Europe tour dates for James Blake’s seventh album ‘Trying Times’ were released alongside the album today. Describing his return as simply a “only a matter of time”, Blake took to Instagram to announce the tour dates. Fans can expect performances of the newly released ‘Trying Times’ as well as others from Blake’s discography as he told fans “Can’t wait to play the new & celebrate the old with you”. With singles ‘Death Of Love’ and ‘I Had A Dream She Took My Hand’, ‘Trying Times’ sees Blake explore the relationship between optimism and pessimism as well as the tension between relationships and isolation.
Described as one of contemporary music’s most influential artists, the Grammy Award winner will return to the stage with the tour beginning in North America in May and June. The UK & Europe leg of the tour will follow in September and October before he returns to California for the final two dates of the tour.
After gaining popularity with independently released EP’s ‘The Bells Sketch’, ‘CMYK’ and ‘Klavierwerke’, Blake was signed to A&M records and released his self-titled debut album in February 2011. Despite being leaked days after its announcement, ‘James Blake’ was received with critical acclaim and was later nominated for the 2011 Mercury Prize. Following his departure for A&M, Blake signed to its’ sister label Republic Records and released his second album ‘Overgrown’ in April 2013. Albums ‘The Colour in Anything’, ‘Assume Form’, ‘Friends That Break Your Heart’ and ‘Playing Robots Into Heaven’ followed in 2016, 2019, 2021 and 2023 respectively. Blake returned today with ‘Trying Times’ under his own independent label Good Boy Records. Although his music is heavily influenced by electronic and experimental sound, Blake manages to maintain the nuance of a singer-songwriter with lyrics based around religion, the state of the world and his decade long relationship with actress Jameela Jamil.
In the time between his last album and ‘Trying Times’, Blake collaborated with UK rapper Dave for the critically acclaimed album ‘The Boy Who Played the Harp’ and also contributed to the soundtrack for the Oscar nominated and BAFTA winning film Sinners.
The dates for the tour are as follows:
September 29 – London
October 5 – Utrech
October 8 – Brussels
October 12 – Paris
October 15 – Berlin
October 18 – Cologne
October 21 – Glasgow
October 25 – Manchester
October 28 – Bristol
Tickets for the tour will be available from Friday March 20th with access to presale tickets starting from 11am on Tuesday March 17th.
