James Blake Releases New Six-Track ‘Covers EP’

James Blake has released his highly anticipated new ‘Covers EP’. As the title suggests, it’s a collection of his favorite covers and the EP is available everywhere now and includes his eagerly awaited rendition of Billie Eilish’s “when the party’s over” as well as his critically acclaimed version of Frank Ocean’s “Godspeed” and his take of the Ewan MacColl-penned “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”. You can check out Blake’s version of “when the party’s over” below.

“Doing these covers and live performances has kept me going this year…” said Blake as he announced the EP on social media. “I chose to record a few in the studio and it turned into this EP.”

While spending time at home during lockdown, Blake spent much of his days performing fan requested covers on social media. With such a positive response the artist went on to officially release his wildly popular cover of Frank Ocean’s “Godspeed,” which generated over 5 million views on TikTok and sparked high praise from fans and press alike, with Hypebeast noting, “He exudes his ghostly vocals throughout, layering his soul-inflecting delivery over the skeletal piano chords.”

“It’s been a joy to discover new music and new ways of playing songs I’ve already heard,” he says of his inspiration to create this EP.

The ‘Covers EP’, follows recently released dance EP, ‘Before’. The 4 track EP is an homage to his London club days, as Blake returns to his roots on these deep and immersive dancefloor tracks while showcasing the evolution of his music.

Speaking recently to NME, Blake discussed his “yearning” for the return of the clubbing scene, which has been broadly shut down in 2020 by the coronavirus pandemic.

“I don’t know about you, but as soon as this pandemic hit, one of my immediate yearnings was: ‘OK, I can’t go to clubs anymore,’” Blake said, before going on to describe clubbing as a “release” that he misses more than anything at the moment.

James Blake’s ‘Covers EP’ is out now and includes the following tracks:

“when the party’s over”
“Atmosphere”
“Never Dreamed You’d Leave In Summer”
“Godspeed”
“When We’re Older”
“The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”