I hope this gets pressed to vinyl at some point. I have everything this dude's ever put out on wax and hope that can continue!
Same tbh. Probably because it’s the one I really got into him with. I remember when “Retrograde” dropped and I was absolutely obsessed.
“Like the rest of Blake’s albums, “Assume Form” opens into haunted, rewarding depths. All that’s missing is one luminous, fully focused pop chorus, like “Retrograde” on Blake’s 2013 “Overgrown” or “My Willing Heart” on his 2016 “The Colour in Anything.” This album comes closest in “Barefoot in the Park,” a duet with the Spanish singer Rosalía that, despite its minor key and somber descending chords, celebrates togetherness and how “You start rubbing off on me.” Perhaps Blake couldn’t bring himself to write something as clichéd as a hit-seeking pop love song.” That’s a decidedly different take than the GQ review lol...
I was gonna bump this thread wondering if we'd even get a single so I'm good giving these a miss tomorrow! You wonder if GQ and the NYT even listened to the same record...
Haha right? As an aspiring music critic it’s always interesting to me how even two professional critics can hear the same album and describe it so differently.
There's no chance that it happened, but imagine if a band recorded two different albums, with the same track titles, and sent half out to some publications and half to the other, just to see the maddess that would occur
Would quicker believe this to be a more pop album than his previous efforts. However I do believe that both reviews might be exaggerating their pov. It's probably his most pop like effort but still maintains experimenting and more somber songs. I mean 'dont miss it' is on this and that's definitely a sumber more subdued song. Still it's really interesting that's there's such a vast difference in the description of the album
most music critics are bullshitting and writing whatever they think sounds good based on a narrative/conclusion they’ve already decided on and not what they’re actually hearing. I don’t trust any of them
This is so good, wow. Feels brighter and more upbeat than his past stuff, while definitely still being James Blake music. I’m glad this doesn’t ever feel like he’s chasing hits, his distinctive style is still here.
You talking about the album or the single? And nice, I’m pumped! I think this will be the one that wins me over