James Blake released a new full-length album last year, Playing Robots Into Heaven, and he’s since sounded off about the music industry and teamed up with a direct-to-fan music platform. Yesterday, he released a new single, “Thrown Around,” his first in quite a while as an independent artist. (His most recent album came out via Republic/Polydor; his new one is out via his own CMYK label.)

“‘Thrown Around’ is a nod to some of the music I grew up listening to, growing up in England. It started as an ambient piece that I made with Dom Maker, that connected something very deep in me to the influence of British electronic bands,” Blake shared in a statement. He continued:

It’s a defiant song that’s wrestling with where our job takes us, what it does to our life. It deals with the draw backs of spending so much time dedicated to work. We don’t have any drives towards community – we are all driven towards success. Then we feel lonely and Thrown Around. This song brings people together – it is the connection through defiance.

Check it out below.

Shoutout to our Discord members for bringing our attention to this track, and kicking off a discussion of whether or not Blake is “mid” and when or if he fell off. We did get an email about this last night though… busy inbox!