This time last month, James Blake announced that his new album, Playing Robots Into Heaven, was on its way, and with that the video for the album’s first single, “Big Hammer”, which featured the Ragga Twins.
Keeping us firmly on the hook, Blake has since returned with the album’s second single, “Loading”. Starkly different from the first, this new track swaps the ragga-techno thunder for a brooding, slightly glitchy electronic meditation.
It’s also markedly different from the bright bursts of colour that defined his last album, Friends That Break Your Heart. Co-produced by Blake and Dom Maker, with additional production from Rob McAndrews and Jameela Jamil, there’s still a driving dancefloor energy, but it’s Blake’s pained vocals that take centre stage.
