Blur sound older, wiser and calmer in The Ballad of Darren — album review

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Damon Albarn rates The Ballad of Darren as the first “legit” Blur album since 13 came out in 1999. That voids 2003’s impressive but uncharacteristic Think Tank, made in the aftermath of guitarist Graham Coxon’s angry exit from the band, and 2015’s decent The Magic Whip, an on-the-hoof reactivation that appeared during a reunion tour.

The former Britpop leaders’ new songs are the byproduct of another live reunion, including a triumphant brace of gigs at Wembley Stadium earlier this month. Those shows opened with The Ballad of Darren’s “St Charles Square”, an enjoyably raucous throwback with cries of “Oi!” and clanging riffs that rattle at the memory cage like nostalgic hooligans. But the rest of the album is older, wiser and calmer. It’s the work of musicians who no longer sound as competitive with the world, or indeed each other, as they used to be.

Opening track “The Ballad” fills out a sketch from Albarn’s solo curio, 2003’s Democrazy. “I can’t seem to find you among this midnight parade,” he croons in the foggy tones of a bruised romantic. Coxon adds consoling backing vocals amid an amber orchestral glow. The song hints at the bereft mirrorball splendour of Blur’s signature ballad “The Universal”. But its longing mood doesn’t express a desire to recapture past glories. Albarn, Coxon, bassist Alex James and drummer Dave Rowntree are in a different frame of mind here.

The lyrics are full of loss and confusion. Seasoned Albarn watchers will recognise the mode. The melancholy that has always been present in his songwriting has acquired the dispiriting feel of emotional drizzle as he has got older, a glumness at odds with his prolific musical energy. But here it has been transmuted into a richer, more affecting experience.

When he sighs, “We have lost the feeling that we thought we’d never lose,” in “Barbaric”, his despondency is countered by evergreen jangling guitars and a warm rhythmic thrum. Albarn’s vocals perk up at this classic indie sound from the 1980s, pre-Britpop, as though in recognition of a motivation that actually hasn’t been lost. He sings well on the album.

Meanwhile, Coxon’s guitar textures play a major role in its musical depth, with deft flecks of distortion and vibrant tremolo strums. “The glass is still half full,” Albarn sings in “Avalon”, tentatively optimistic as the song’s arrangements swell up around him. They correctly convey the impression of a glass brimming over.

★★★★☆

‘The Ballad of Darren’ is released by Parlophone