James Blake Talks 2015 LP, Kanye West Collaboration
James Blake has been playing a lot of new material on his BBC Radio 1 program over the past few months — including tracks like “200 Press” and “Building It Still” — which demonstrates that he’s hard at work on a follow-up to 2013’s Overgrown. In a recent interview with The Miami New Times, he’s revealed that he’s “probably about seventy percent done” with the new record, which he said should come out in “about five months.” (So around March or April of next year.) “I’m working hard and doing my best — I’m aware that people want to hear this record, so I’m not being complacent,” he said. “I should hope that [the new album] will be a step on, as much as the second one was to the first. I guess I’ve taken a focus on the songwriting again, even more closely, and I’m dabbling in some different production techniques, things I’ve developed.”
He also talked a bit more about a possible collaboration with Kanye West, which he’s been teasing for a while:
I have a lot of respect for [Kanye], for what he has been releasing for years. We haven’t done a great deal of work in the same room yet, but we’ve done a few things, kind of helped each other with our own music. In terms of the actual collaboration for this record, it looks like we should be able to get something done. I know that there’s a specific song I would like him to be on, and if he can do that by the time my record comes out, that would be fantastic.
Blake’s third album is also expected to feature Justin Vernon and another unknown artist that he’s “excited” about.