James Blake has come out swinging with his new single, “Mile High”, featuring rap powerhouse Travis Scott and famed producer Metro Boomin’. Premiered (three times!) on Beats 1 as Zane Lowe’s World Record, “Miles High” comes ahead of the release of his eagerly-awaited fourth album Assume Form, out Jan 18 via Republic Records.

While it’s unclear how this unlikely trio came to be, it’s often the unexpected that yields the best of results. Here’s what he told Lowe (Beats 1) of the process:

“I walked into the studio and Metro was playing … or, he just started playing the beat to Travis and Travis was already there. I heard he was in there, but I didn’t know that the idea was that it was not exactly my session, but like a session where we were making something for my record.

But I think they understood… I think Metro and Travis understood that this was something involving me,” he tells Zane Lowe. “So, I walk in. Travis is like already putting something down on the beat. I go, “Wow. This is great. This sounds brilliant, what he’s doing.” Then, when he finished … I waited 10 minutes or so. Let it run around. Let us hear it and stuff. And I was like, “Guys, do you mind if I do a vocal?”

This partnership, however, is not entirely out of the blue: if you recall, Blake was recently featured along with Stevie Wonder on Travis Scott’s “Stop Trying To Be God”, off his sophomore album, Astroworld (2018). Listen to “Mile High” below.

Catch James Blake on tour for his fourth album, Assume Form, due out January 18. Assume Form features collabs that reflect Blake’s continual sonic evolution and blurring of genre boundaries: André 3000, Moses Sumney, Travis Scott, Metro Boomin, and ROSALÍA. Tour kicks off in Atlanta Feb. 18, wrapping up in Los Angeles on March 16. A full list of dates are below, and tickets are available here.

FEBRUARY
18- Atlanta, GA // Tabernacle
20 – Boston, MA // House of Blues
21 – Washington, DC //The Anthem
22 – Philadelphia, PA // The Fillmore
24 – New York, NY // Terminal 5
25 – New York, NY // Terminal 5
27 – Toronto, ON // Sony Centre for the Performing Arts
28 – Montreal, QC // L’Olympia
MARCH
2 – Royal Oak, MI // Royal Oak Music Theatre
3 – Chicago, IL // Riviera Theater
4 – Saint Paul, MN // Palace Theatre
8 – Portland, OR // Roseland Theater
9 – Vancouver, BC // Harbour Convention Centre
10 – Seattle, WA // Moore Theatre
12 – Oakland, CA // Fox Theater
15 – Pomona, CA // Fox Theater
16 – Los Angeles, CA // Hollywood Palladium

Assume Form Track List:
1. Assume Form
2. Mile High (Ft. Travis Scott & Metro Boomin)
3. Tell Them (Ft. Moses Sumney & Metro Boomin)
4. Into The Red
5. Barefoot In The Park (Ft. ROSALÍA)
6. Can’t Believe The Way We Flow
7. Are You In Love?
8. Where’s The Catch? (Ft. André 3000)
9. I’ll Come Too
10. Power On
11. Don’t Miss It
12. Lullaby For My Insomniac