The return of James Blake is officially upon us. It’s been over three years since the English singer-songwriter graced our ears with his second studio album Overgrown. The 27-year-old has been teasing this new project since 2014, and now it looks like it’s finally here. It will be called…(electronically produced drum roll please) The Colour In Anything.
Blake began teasing fans with the album title five days ago, when he posted this picture to his Instagram. The image was the early stages of a mural done by Sir Quentin Blake, famous illustrator of Roald Dahl’s Matilda and James and the Giant Peach. That same day, the illustrator’s Twitter account also posted pictures of the mural going up on Great Eastern Street in London. And it wasn’t long before fans began to take notice.
This just in: mysterious Quentin Blake billboards going up in Great Eastern St, London EC2…! pic.twitter.com/a3rGDPnFcG
— Sir Quentin Blake HQ (@QuentinBlakeHQ) April 28, 2016
@QuentinBlakeHQ @jamesblake bloody lovely pic.twitter.com/saQ6dBRjUR
— Krishna Maroo (@KrishnaMaroo) April 29, 2016
After teasing fans with that mural, a billboard went up in Brooklyn yesterday, confirming that this indeed was being done for James Blake. It was originally rumoured that the album would be titled Radio Silence but it’s now clear the title of the album will be The Colour in Anything.
Blake’s triumphant return began in February when he posted a song titled “Modern Soul” to his YouTube page. He debuted the track while hosting an episode of BBC Radio 1’s Residency show. We’re not quite sure if it’ll end up on the 18-song album, but it’s exactly what you’d expect to hear from the alt-electronic artist.
Blake then jumped back in the BBC Radio 1 hot host seat on April 14, where he continued to debut new music. This time, it was an incredibly moody track titled “Timeless”. The song was unfortunately removed from YouTube, but you still have until May 14 to check out the entire two-hour show. And since we got you covered, you can skip to 28:35 for the track.
If that’s not enough for you, Blake also collaborated with grime artist MC Trim for the track “RPG”. This one is probably just going to be a stand-alone single, which would explain the very different vibe compared to “Modern Soul” and “Timeless”, and also why it still remains on YouTube.
You might have heard the sweet sounds of the English singer if you listened to that little album LEMONADE by some unknown artist named Beyonce. He appeared on the song “Forward”, and has confirmed he will have some very special features of his own on The Colour in Anything.
Last year, when the album was still expected to be titled Radio Silence and be released that in 2015, Blake told Esquire that he was indeed working with Mr. Kanye West. After Esquire asked him about Justin Vernon of Bon Iver being on the album, Blake responded with the very pleasing news.
“Yeah… OK. I can confirm they’re on it. Kanye – I’m with him today. We’d already started on something but it’s not in full swing. Today we should nail something down. If it doesn’t end up on the album you know it hasn’t worked,” said Blake.
Here’s hoping that it worked. If you want to get a taste of what a project can sound like when it includes Justin Vernon and Kanye, you might want to travel back to 2012 and revisit “Lost In The World”.
Sure, these two probably won’t appear on the same song on Blake’s album, but this brilliant track will tease you just enough until we get another taste of The Colour in Anything.
