A surprise press conference in London last month announced ‘The Magic Whip’; a new album from
English rock band Blur, which made every Blur fans dreams come true since the band came together again for a series of reunion gigs in 2009. Not only is it the first Blur album in 12 years, it’s also their first album as a fourpiece for 16 years!
Tracks such as ‘Lonesome Street’ and ‘Mirrorball’ perfectly highlight the bands infused sound from the different projects they’ve been involved in since they last worked together. Opening track ‘Lonesome Street’ for example mirrors the sound of Gorillaz, whilst tracks such as ‘Ghostship’ and ‘Mirrorball’ share similarities with lead singer Damon Albarn’s solo material.
The album fails to fall flat at any point, and the catchy singalong singles ‘Go Out’ and ‘Ong Ong’ are joined with other upbeat and catchy tracks the band do so well such as ‘I Broadcast’ and ‘New World Towers’. The album does slow down the pace for electro synth sounding track ‘Thought I was A Spaceman’ which perfectly fits the ‘sci-fi folk’ genre guitarist Graham Coxon labelled the contents of the album. Stomp anthem ‘There Are Too Many Of Us’ also takes a slower pace, though is lead by futuristic sounding instruments and one hell of a drum beat.
A highlight of the album is the beautiful ‘Pyongyang’; another slower style track that spends 5 1/2 minutes building you up and then bringing you back down again. Albarn’s voice sounds phenomenal and perfectly compliments the chilling sounds of Coxon’s guitar work.
‘The Magic Whip’ is a fantastic album and Blur have delivered exactly what fans were hoping for. It’s impressive to see a band integrate so many different sounds and style. The band have just 2 upcoming UK dates, one headlining the Isle of Wight Festival and another headlining one of the British Summer Time dates in Hyde Park, London. Though with a short but sweet Australian tour coming up, we can both optimistically and realistically hope that there will be a UK tour to accompany it soon.
by Laura Dean
