On “Assume Form,” James Blake Shows us an Important Step in Recovering from Depression

James Blake has grown. That’s something that Blake would want us to think about both his music and him after listening to Assume Form. The album is his first since 2016’s The Colour in Anything, which saw him at his most anxious, and occasionally unfocused because of it. Anxiety and depression have always been a big part of his music and those themes led to his own suicidal thoughts during some of his touring. Assume Form does not stray from these themes, but this time he captures a healthy and underappreciated part of moving on from depressive episodes.

While past projects have seen Blake near drowning from self-isolation, Assume Form is an example of his grappling with the happiness from a healthy relationship. This may seem like an easy battle, but anyone who has been through a deep depression will tell you about the paranoia and over protectiveness that they’ve had to overcome. Blake’s music seemed to be an almost self-fulfilling prophecy. His music was sad, about loss and self-loathing. His fans related to that, and the themes in his music seemed to overwhelm his own being. He fell into, what he describes on this album as “the ether.”

“In Assume Form, [Blake] details the final steps of his recovery process as it pertains to his new relationship.”

Read the rest of the article here