Blur - The Ballad of Darren (2023)

"The Ballad of Darren is the first legit [Blur] album since 13," Blur vocalist Damon Albarn recently told Consequence of Sound. Putting aside Think Tank (2003), which saw guitarist Graham Coxon's exit, and 2015's The Magic Whip (which was reportedly pieced together by Coxon after Albarn threw in the towel), that's 24 years. The world has changed… a lot. The band has changed… a lot. (Check out now-sober Coxon's entertaining memoir Verse, Chorus, Monster! for more on that.) But listening to "St. Charles Square," it's like Blur picked right back up from 1999. Coxon's woozy guitar is all over the place, a stumblebum determined to lead the way to fun. Albarn opens up the song by declaring "I fucked up" and unleashes fright-show screams and haunted-house howls. It could have been right at home on 13, and it's a delight. "Barbaric" sounds crisp and sunny—maybe the sunniest song Blur has ever done, versus the blinding camp of, say, "Girls & Boys"—even as the lyrics devastate: "And I would like if you've got the time/ To talk to you about what this breakup has done to me/ I have lost the feeling that I thought I'd never lose."

"Where are you now? Are you coming back?" Albarn asks on "Russian Strings," which is almost Pulp-like in its melodrama ("There's nothing in the end, only dust/ So turn the music up/ I'm hitting the hard stuff"); Coxon's guitar is louche and lush and piercing. Produced by James Ford, a favorite of bands looking to refresh (Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys), The Ballad of Darren sounds luxuriant even in its most simple moments, like "The Everglades." There's a rich lounge feel, not to mention smooth Motown cool, on "The Ballad" and "Avalon," with layered backing vocals. The latter track, which works itself up into a pulsating chorus, is named for the mythical island where King Arthur's Excalibur sword was legendarily made and finds Albarn wondering,"What's the point in building Avalon/ If you can't be happy when it's done?" There's a similar theme on "Far Away Island," with its romantic carnival music, and a feeling of longing but also release in relief on songs like "Goodbye Albert" and the terrific "The Narcissist." Starting off rhythmically, almost like the Killers, that song lights up as Coxon's echo duet kicks in, sweetly repeating Albarn's words. It culminates in a catharsis of guitar noise, equal parts exorcism and celebration, once Albarn has examined the past pitfalls of fame ("Looked in the mirror/ So many people standing there/ I walked towards them/ Into the floodlights/ I heard no echo") but also lessons learned for the future: "I'll be shining light in your eyes/ You'll probably shine it back on me/ But I won't fall this time." The Ballad of Darren ends with "The Heights," a stunner that feels comfortably familiar (think "The Universal," "Coffee and TV") and builds to a buzzing swarm of feedback, putting an exclamation point on this chapter of Blur. © Shelly Ridenour

Tracklist
1 The Ballad
2 St. Charles Square
3 Barbaric
4 Russian Strings
5 The Everglades (For Leonard)
6 The Narcissist
7 Goodbye Albert
8 Far Away Island
9 Avalon
10 The Heights
11 The Rabbi
12 The Swan