• Record Label: Polydor
  • Release Date: Sep 8, 2023
User Score
9.0

Universal acclaim- based on 4 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 4
  3. Negative: 0 out of 4
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  1. Sep 9, 2023
    8
    Wonderful album. As always, James' production techniques are unmatched. I highly recommend checking this out. My only critique is that some of the tracks so don't flow together as well as an album experience as some of his previous works.
Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 18 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 18
  2. Negative: 0 out of 18
  1. Oct 23, 2023
    93
    The 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.
  2. Oct 10, 2023
    80
    Though 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.
  3. Sep 21, 2023
    80
    Recapturing 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.