Friends That Break Your Heart

Remember when James Blake first popped into the common conscience? Or slid, subtly, gently, barely-existing, like a thought without a mind, lost in the vast expanse of silence, trying to be heard? The originality of those early outings will always stand out as defining a moment in UK electronica where things began to change; post dubstep, haunted by the ghosts of garage, pre-techno takeover, genres starting to collapse back in on each other, paving the way today’s label-less stuff.

In comparison, Friends That Break Your Heart is a far, far more traditional episode in the story of Blake. Those old fragments of tracks haven’t just been glued back together, new parts have been added to create incredibly detailed and – dare it be said – busy collages. It’s R&B infused, synth topped, pop balladry influenced electronic future soul. And we’re really quite (very) into it.