The Ballad Of Darren - Blur: Review
Blur
are one of the definitive bands of the Brit-Pop era, helping to define the sound of British music in the early 90s. In the wake of their 1995 album The Great Escape they shifted genre focus towards other styles and genre experiments. Though the various members have kept busy, the band had only released 2 albums since the 90s. Their last project, 2015's The Magic Whip came amid an era of turmoil for the group in their attempt to reform. This new tour and album has been much more clinical by comparison.
Review by Lav:
Blur is one of my favorite bands of all time. ANYONE and I do mean anyone who knows me personally can probably recall a time where I tried to convince them to join the fandom. The band's bouncy attitude, witty lyricism, dynamic songwriting, and unparalleled ability to conjure up brilliant hooks first caused me to fall in love with them almost a decade ago and the admiration has only grown since. While I've covered solo works from the various members a number of times on this blog, this will be the first time I've actually gotten to review newly released music from one of my favorite acts around. Part of me, a big part of me, really wanted to overdo it. But once I started to break down this album I realized nuance and restraint were key elements of what makes it successful, so I'm going to apply some of those same principles here.
The album's lead single The Narcissist was Blur's first new song in a while and unsurprisingly, it got to me. I love the wonderful hook and gentle flourishes of drums and synths laced throughout that elevate everything. It's also such a gentle piece of reflection which feels fitting for a band with such a long and dynamic career. The second single St. Charles Square surprised me a lot. It's a much more chaotic burst of gritty guitars and targeted lyricism that I wasn't expecting. While the song didn't blow me away at first, I've grown to like it a lot. Part of that has to do with tracklisting as it follows the reserved and languid The Ballad. That song opens the record off with bouncy guitars sauntering through this gentle little alt-rock style and then all of a sudden St. Charles Square just supercharges everything.
As I expected though, the album is much more reminiscent of The Narcissist's sonic approach. This album is mature and not just in the way that music critics use "mature" as shorthand for boring. From its title, Barbaric feels like it could come with some jagged edges. And yet, it's a sunny piece of absolute bliss complete with another excellent hook. Combine it with the sweet guitar licks and you have a song that contrasts well with its sunny lyrical imagery.
Avalon might be my favorite deep cut of the bunch. It's a total hidden gem late on the record that features some of its best and most imaginative lyrics. It starts like many of the other tracks here before aligning into a much tighter form right in time for another one of the album's best hooks. I also really enjoy Russian Strings which serves up this meandering psychedelic guitar riff that just warms me up every time I hear it. I love the transition onto the hook with the backing vocals as well. The song gets dramatic but never climactic or opulent, which I think would sound out of place on such a down-to-earth record.
The album also turns out its fair share of quiet malaise, which isn't always a bad thing. Far Away Island is one of the best even though I don't find it all that compelling initially. Once again it's the wonderful chorus that really wins me over. Closing track The Heights is an okay song, not one that I would specifically point out as a highlight. But it does a LOT for the record in terms of guiding it to a satisfying finale. Transitioning out of Avalon with something that feels much more familiar only to crush it by dragging the entire project to this overwhelming distorted conclusion that is far messier than anything that came before it. The whole moment feels like letting loose some of the subtext that had been building up throughout the album, everything unstable and unsteady completely overtaking the normally reserved demeanor of the music.
Even when the album isn't at its best, it can get boring but never outright bad. The Everglades is so loosely formed it almost feels like an interlude. The gentle guitars and clacky programmed drums are cute at first but it's a very novel sound. It's probably the most the album gives in to its "ballad' instincts, which is extra funny given the lyrics on the hook. Goodbye Albert is probably my least favorite track on the record. There are interesting soundplay elements with the wobbly synth lines and vocal effects but it's a weakly written tune especially compared to the rest of what's here.
As I had hoped, The Ballad Of Darren is another wonderful edition to one of my favorite discographies ever. Fittingly, the band's 9th album sounds much more like it's two predecessors than anything that preceded them. But even then Ballad sees the signature "pep" that once defined the band completely erased after two decades of slow decline. These songs are more meditative than reflective and while it's easy to pinpoint moments that wouldn't have sounded out of place on albums like Blur or 13, they're the exception, not the rule. In its place, the band uses the restraint of veteran songwriters to craft an album that may initially sound like the commonplace indulgences of a band more than 3 decades into their career but brings with it nuanced details and thematic throughlines to elevate these songs to greater than the sum of their parts. 8/10
For more British rock check out my review of Squid's O Monolith here
