Blur by Reuben Bastienne-Lewis
“This is an aftershock record, reflection and comment on where we find ourselves now,” Blur’s Damon Albarn said.
Add a brand new studio album to Blur‘s 2023 return.
The Ballad Of Darren will be released on July 21st, right in the midst of their comeback touring which is due to take in an intimate hometown gig in Colchester tonight (May 19th).
“The older and madder we get, it becomes more essential that what we play is loaded with the right emotion and intention,” Graham Coxon opined. “Sometimes just a riff doesn’t do the job.”
The LP will be the band’s first since 2015’s The Magic Whip, and was recorded in London and Devon with producer James Ford. Lead single The Narcissist is streaming now.
“For any long term relationship to last with any meaning you have to be able to surprise each other somehow and somehow we all continue to do that,” Alex James added, while Dave Rowntree concluded:
It always feels very natural to make music together. With every record we do, the process reveals something new and we develop as a band. We don’t take that for granted.
The Ballad Of Darren tracklist:
The Ballad
St Charles Square
Barbaric
Russian Strings
The Everglades (For Leonard)
The Narcissist
Goodbye Albert
Far Away Island
Avalon and The Heights