Overgrown

Many reviewers speculated in the year between releases that Blake was headed in the wrong direction, with Pitchfork's Larry Fitzmaurice saying that "James Blake's reliance on piano-based singer/songwriter electro-soul perhaps played it a bit too safe, prompting comparisons to the once-outré, now-gear spinning career of fellow avant-crooner Jamie Lidell".Blake admitted to Hot Press in an interview about Overgrown that his relationship affected the album. He said, "I can't deny it. There's no point in trying to come up with some other explanation for what I've been writing about... When it happened, I was really struck. Y'know - Suddenly I'm hit!". Advanced listeners have described the sound as "warmer" and has been labeled as more "nu-soul" than his previous effort, James Blake. Earlier in 2012, Blake spent time with American rapper and singer Kanye West and Justin Vernon. Their time spent together is alleged to have affected his album as many of the soul and electronic influences of West and Vernon can be seen in the first single released from Overgrown: "Retrograde". In 2012, after months of speculation, Blake announced a new collaborative non-single release under the moniker "Harmonimix". This release featured British rapper Trim and the single "Confidence Boost/Saying" was released on September 24, 2012. It was a return to form for Blake and featured the distinct characteristics present in his previous efforts. During the final weeks of 2012, James Blake performed three "intimate" shows where he debuted three of his new songs, the three being "Our Love Comes Back," "Overgrown" and "Every Day I Ran."Blake announced via Facebook on 7 February 2013 that his second album, Overgrown, will be released on 8 April. The first single from the album, "Retrograde", was debuted the same day on BBC Radio 1, and was released on 11 February. In an interview with Oregon Music News on September 23, Blake described his music as "melodic bass music" and also said that his dub influences extend both the traditional dub music and to garage music. On 7 March, Blake and his labelmates at 1-800 Dinosaur released both the dub version of "Voyeur" and the album cut of "Digital Lion" featuring Brian Eno.