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Oct 23, 2023The oddly beautiful instrumental title track, which is a gentle, simple melody played on a keyboard that sounds like a combination of a computerized church organ and a ghostly merry-go-round — and perfectly evokes the digital spirituality of its title, and the contrasts of where James Blake the artist is at this point in his always-explorative musical career.
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Oct 10, 2023Though Playing Robots Into Heaven recalls some of Blake’s more inscrutable, cloistered years as a musician, it also offers the clarity and confidence of someone who could do anything—but has chosen this.
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Sep 21, 2023Recapturing the creativity that made his work stand out in the U.K. club scene around the turn of the 2010s, Playing Robots into Heaven is some of the most honest work of Blake's career.
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UncutSep 18, 2023Despite a perennial weakness for soppy whimpering, Blake always delivers spine-tingling jewel-box beauty. [Nov 2023, p.25]
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Sep 15, 2023This album won’t be for everyone, but it’s quite the trip.
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Sep 8, 2023It is a unity of the best elements of James Blake’s music – the rare ability to move the feet of a large crowd and the heart of a single bedroom listener simultaneously. He nails both achievements with striking regularity here.
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Sep 8, 2023As ever, Blake’s singular vision results in electrifying and innovative electronic music.
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Sep 8, 2023Playing Robots Into Heaven pitches itself right in the middle, swallowing up Blake's wounded reveries in a tide of dance floor-friendly inspiration. It's the most vital he's sounded in years.
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Sep 7, 2023Blake clearly revels in the invention and freedom of the exploit. “Fall Back” comes across as a very organic, found-sound kind of ambient concoction, as if someone has worked out how to recycle DJ software out of firewood and hemp.
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Sep 7, 2023While this may not become your favorite James Blake album instantly, it is one that toes the delicate line of pleasing the world while staying true to yourself. Playing Robots Into Heaven is a snapshot of Blake’s ambitions while still sounding present and urgent.
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Sep 7, 2023Blake’s sonic ecosystem thrives in fusing seemingly discordant sounds. In striking electronic karate chops and pouring into careening chords, he makes the man-made appear organic.
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Sep 7, 2023Despite – and seemingly deliberately - not carrying the widespread immediacy of more recent releases, it presents James as he currently stands; at once nostalgic and forward-thinking, and firmly back behind the decks.
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Sep 7, 2023The results make for an inspired evolution of his sound, with Blake occasionally glancing in the rearview mirror as he moves in a new direction.
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Sep 7, 2023The majority of Playing Robots Into Heaven is still very good, but the album is missing the skyscraping highs of past tracks like “The Wilhelm Scream” or “Retrograde”, and its cohesiveness is hampered by a few lesser songs that have slipped past the slackened quality control department.
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Sep 7, 2023‘Playing Robots’ finds Blake not quite knowing how to juggle all these facets of his personality and throwing them all at the wall. There are flashes of gorgeous phrasing, incredible textures, and welcome experimentation, but the album is also completely all over the place. Still, Blake remains undeniably talented as a singer, songwriter and producer.
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Sep 11, 2023While not quite a return to form, the album’s sleek yet plaintive production is a welcome reminder of what Blake does best.
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Sep 7, 2023Playing Robots Into Heaven is ultimately a flawed but, at times, interesting and worthwhile foray for Blake into more beat-led, dancefloor-friendly music.
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Sep 7, 2023With skills and interests cemented across various styles, he’s figuring out in real time exactly what he does best – providing floor fillers to club crowds or elevating his performances through complex production. Perhaps when he sings, “Where are my wings? / they’re loading”, the artist is acknowledging that he’s still to assume his most resolute form yet.