The first few weeks of the year are almost always the worst few weeks of the year for a music reviewer. It almost always takes three full weeks after the new year for anyone to release anything worthwhile.

Finally, though, after a few weeks of waiting, we’ve finally got the first worthwhile release of the year: James Blake’s newest offering, “Assume Form.”

The record is the fourth from the English electronic and R&B musician, and his first in nearly three years. Blake has always been a difficult artist to pin down; seemingly existing on the edges of pop music, Blake’s bleak production style and haunting voice form together into something that could be radio-friendly but is just a twinge too angular to achieve that popularity.

“Assume Form” is by no means a break away from Blake’s idiosyncratic sounds. If anything, the record feels more like the logical continuation of what he’s been doing. The album still seems to occupy the same cool, unfeeling world that records like Radiohead’s “Kid A” developed, but with a decidedly more R&B style to the vocals.

But what makes “Assume Form” stand out from past releases of Blake’s is the way he’s embracing a unique smattering of featured artists. In recent years, Blake has been taken in by hip-hop and R&B acts like Kendrick Lamar and Beyoncé, and now Blake seems to be returning the favor.

He does this with a pair of standout tracks featuring guest-production from Atlanta trap phenomenon Metro Boomin, who has truly solidified his place as one of the most versatile producers of the modern era.

On the first of the Metro Boomin-featured tracks, “Mile High,” Blake sounds positively ghostly along with rapper Travis Scott. Scott sounds more subdued than normal, and he and Blake haunt the track, trading a spacey vocal line back and forth.

Immediately after the track, Blake once again taps Metro Boomin for “Tell Them” which features a seemingly untethered performance from Moses Sumney, who makes the track sound positively eerie.

The combined production talents of Blake and Metro on these two tracks builds to something greater than the sum of its parts. Metro’s typical trap sound and Blake’s electronic edge are both eschewed, favoring a production sound that could easily fit in on an album by some of the greats of ‘90s trip hop like Portishead and Massive Attack.

But there’s more to Blake’s bag of tricks than a duo of Metro Boomin tracks. On “Into the Red,” Blake burrowed himself into my mind with an incredibly infectious, yet still haunting, chorus.

On “Barefoot in the Park,” Blake employs Mexican singer ROSALÍA to great effect. The two play off each other as if they are characters in a macabre, polyglot musical, sounding for all the world like two lovers desperately calling out to each other.

However, as the record wears on, it begins to wear a little thin. The record is majorly front-loaded, with most of the best songs coming in the first half. While Blake continues the formula that made these tracks work as the album comes to a close, the formula just somehow seems to work slightly less as the album comes to a conclusion.

That said, though, Blake’s sound on “Assume Form” is achingly beautiful before it loses steam. It leaves me excited for the next evolution in his sound.

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By Patrick Kernan

pkernan@timesleader.com

Album: ‘Assume Form’

Artist: James Blake

Label: Polydor

Length: 48:08

Best Tracks: ‘Tell Them,’ ‘Barefoot in the Park’

Reach Patrick Kernan at 570-991-6386 or on Twitter @PatKernan