James Blake has announced his sixth studio album with a wonky new electronic track called ‘Big Hammer’ and a video directed by Oscar Hudson (Radiohead, Bonobo).
Playing Robots is to be released on September 8th through Polydor/ Republic records, and if ‘Big Hammer’ is anything to go by, it’s more of a sonically concerned album than the songwriting focus of last album, Friends That Break Your Heart.
It’s a return to the early Jame Blake sound where he released music on labels Hessle, Hemlock and R&S. Blakes CMYK series of events which in the past year has featured guests Steve Lacy, Channel Tres and HAii in LA, will also return to London on July 6th, along with dates at Alexandra Palaceon September 28th and EU and US dates as per below.
‘Big Hammer’ is mostly an instrumental with a jungle MC sample.
JAMES BLAKE 2023 TOUR DATES
| DATE | CITY | VENUE |
| 18 Sep | Milan, Italy | Fabrique |
| 21 Sep | Brussels, Belgium | Forest National Club |
| 22 Sep | Paris, France | L’Olympia |
| 24 Sep | Berlin, Germany | UFO im Velodrom |
| 26 Sep | Tilburg, Netherlands | O13 |
| 28 Sep | London, UK | Alexandra Palace |
| 3 Oct | Atlanta, GA , U.S. | Coca Cola Roxy |
| 5 Oct | Queens, NY, U.S. | Knockdown Center |
| 9 Oct | Boston, MA, U.S | MGM Music Hall at Fenway |
| 10 Oct | Montreal, QC, Canada | L’Olympia |
| 12 Oct | Toronto, ON, Canada | Rebel |
| 14 Oct | Chicago, IL, U.S. | Aragon Ballroom |
| 16 Oct | San Francisco, CA, U.S. | The Masonic Theater |
| 19 Oct | Los Angeles, CA, U.S. | Hollywood Forever Cemetery |
CMYK
| 6 July | London UK | Here |
Fans who pre-order the album from jamesblakemusic.com by 6pm on Monday July 3rd will get access to exclusive ticket pre-sale for James’ Alexandra Palace show on 4th of July ahead of general sale on 7th of July.
