The Nearer The Fountain. More Pure The Stream Flows - Damon Albarn: Review

Damon Albarn

is a singer, songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist and musical curator who has had his hand in all kinds of different projects across his 30 year career. He started as the front man of Britpop icons Blur in the early 90's and has continued to work with the band and its members ever since. His most well known project internationally is Gorillaz, the cartoon band that blew up for it's genre fusions and high profile collaborations. His musical imprint stretches even further into various side projects like The Good, The Bad & The Queen and Africa Express, as well as numerous soundtrack albums. Fountain is Damon's 2nd true solo album and comes 7 years after his solo debut Everyday Robots.

Review By Lav:

If you know me, you know how I feel about this album. If you don't know me, hey there it's nice to meet you, yes Lav is short for Lavender, and I'm very sorry about whatever album you love I gave a bad score 3 years ago. Now that we're acquainted my review for this album can really just be these two qualifiers. I absolutely LOVE Blur, and I absolutely LOVE Iceland. So seeing the frontman of one of my favorite bands release a concept album about the natural history of my dream vacation destination was obviously going to work for me. But I'm more than capable of admitting when something I was anticipating liking or something it seems like I should like doesn't live up to the hype. This album isn't that. This album is fucking beautiful. 

If I wasn't excited enough for the record in concept it had 4 singles that collectively raised my expectations even further. The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows has the massive expectations of being a title track, lead single and album opener but it lives up to all of it, I love this song. It's a stark and dreary way to begin the record but the sheer distant beauty of Damon's melodies is like a warm embrace from the bitter cold surrounding it. The soundscape exists in this isolating space but his extremely fragile singing is the absolute perfect accompaniment that doesn't break the tracks gentle poise. Royal Morning Blue is the most instrumentally present and generally upbeat of the singles with a peppy drum machine line and soaring hook. I admire that the song manages to deliver such an isolating and almost apocalyptic lyrical concept without ever breaking the genuinely fun demeanor it puts on. 

The two of the other singles pop up all the way at the very end of the record and we will get there eventually, but there's plenty more highlights along the way. The Cormorant inherits the gentle crashing waves of the song that comes before it and introduces some off kilter percussion to top it off. It's less chilly and more eerie as the refrains stretch off into the background and the methodical drum hits guide the song throughout the entire runtime. The stoic lyrical imagery of beaches, lighthouses and distant sunken ships come together with the instrumental palette to paint quite a vivid picture. 

Darkness To Light is truly an amazing song that starts off as a pretty stark piano ballad before rushing instrumentation gathers and the song rises into this beautiful lovesick chorus. The only issue I have with any of it is that Damon occasionally pushes out of his vocal range in a way that can feel awkward among the otherwise blissful sounds. The Tower Of Montevideo has been a favorite since it made it's live debut, what feels like 10 years ago. It's one of the jazzier cuts on the record and works as both a tribute to the architecture from which it derives its title and sees Damon delivering one of his most trademark charisma soaked vocal performances. Aside from a particularly stark bridge it's one of the more accessible songs here and I always found it to be beyond pleasant to listen to. 

There are two instrumental cuts in the mix here and I'm a fan of both of them. Combustion comes first and starts off with a long and reserved intro before a blistering sax solo comes out of nowhere and it's off to the races. Despite the depth of instrumentation the song delivers it isn't particularly loud after the initial burst of sax and nothing really emerges to dominate the mix. It works as a short eruption of Damon's eclectic influences that I enjoyed every time I heard it. Esja might be an even more impressive piece starting right out of the gate with one of my favorite things to hear on any song, whacky percussion. It's another great example of how the album plays with reverb in a compelling way as sounds never really disappear and they have aftershocks felt well after they've faded into the distance. It all collects and piles on top of itself to make something fantastically dense. 

The last pair of singles I haven't talked about close the album off, first with Polaris. I also got a little bit obsessed with this one as a single and I think it will be the most familiar sounding thing on the record to fans of Damon. You could definitely imagine it on his last solo album and if you took away some of the harsher synth sounds even on the last Blur record. It delivers a great hook, wonderful sax lines, great backing vocals and the best bridge on the entire album. Particles was a track I enjoyed as a single but I was surprised to see it as a closer give him sonically meek it is. It clearly aims to be more of a thematic conclusion tying together them looser themes of nature, love and Iceland into something of a conclusive finale. Despite how understated it is I do think the steady stream of water it eventually fades into feels like a fitting conclusion to this record when I take the whole thing in at once. 

There weren't any songs here I outright disliked, while I don't have much to say about the records shortest track Giraffe Trumpet Sea, I do think the records strangest cut is Daft Wader. It's a more conventional song at first the breaks down into something slightly chaotic but also somehow still very contained at the end. I can't find the exact right words to describe it all but it stands out on the record and even knowing Damon's back catalog extensively it is is still pretty unexpected. 

While this record may not do as good of a job telling the history of Iceland as most textbooks, the feelings that it evokes through it's music, lyrics and imagery are as emotionally cohesive as you'll hear on just about any record in 2021. The atmospheres of these songs communicate vivid soundscapes which are occasionally grand and isolating, and at other times intimate and warm. Throughout it all is Damon's voice carefully guiding these songs directly to their emotional through line as he has been able to do with so many different musical style for so long. The record may not have the commercial hits of a Blur project and probably won't develop the cult fanbase of Gorillaz but I still see it as holding up to many of the best and most acclaimed projects in Damon's long career thus far, and holding up to his contemporaries here in 2021. 8.5/10

Album Cover Review By Tyler Judson:

I enjoy this cover a lot. It reads more than just an album cover and instead like a piece of fine art. The deep contrast of the image in the back paired with a clean border and minimal text makes it crisp. I wish I could see a little more detail in the rock but I think this would be a nice addition to anyone's record display and one that will draw you in when browsing digitally. 8.5/10

For more atmosphere check out my review of Grouper's Shade here