NEW YORK — Some people get lots of invitations. James Blake gets the right ones.
He’s had a role on two of the greatest albums of the last decade — Beyonce’s delicious “Lemonade” and Kendrick Lamar’s Pulitzer Prize-winner “Damn.” He worked on another impactful and culturally relevant album, Jay-Z’s “4:44”; he’s part of Travis Scott’s pop star breakthrough “Astroworld”; and he contributed to the uber-successful “Black Panther” soundtrack, earning him two Grammy nominations.
Those key projects helped Blake, a British singer-songwriter-producer with a distinct downbeat electronic sound, develop and expand as an artist — growth heard throughout “Assume Form,” his new album out Friday.
Blake produced, wrote and mixed the album, but helpers include co-producer Dominic Maker and engineer Nathan Boddy. Andre 3000, Metro Boomin, Rosalia and Scott also appear on the album.
Mesfin Fekadu, The Associated Press
