Album Review - Blur; The Ballad of Darren (2023)

It has been a great 2023 so far for Blur - a return to touring, including a concert at Wembley; rereleases of albums such as 13 and Think Tank; and a new album, the first since 2015's The Magic Whip - this one is called The Ballad of Darren, referring to Damon Albarn's bodyguard, and like previous albums Leisure and The Great Escape, has someone swimming on the album cover.

Disclaimer - I am not a professional music critic, unsurprisingly.

 

Albarn has described the songs on the album as "quite accurate inventories of my life" in an interview with a German newspaper, which reflects the more introspective lyrics found throughout the album. Having heard the album just before writing this interview, I'd interpret many to be about feeling lonely and isolated in society today (such as the opening lines of The Narcissist - "Looked in the mirror/So many people standing there"), though many lyrics are more cryptic, like the imagery in St Charles Square ("I'm fixtures and fittings now") or the whole of Russian Strings. But the album isn't locked to excessive pessimism - if anything, the songs at times feel fairly optimistic, such as the enjoyable Barbaric.

And I must say that musically, this album is certainly rather different to the previous eight by Blur. There's a greater focus on orchestration throughout the album, especially prevalent on songs such as the piano-led The Ballad, as well as Far Away Island and the ending to Barbaric, whilst, rather pleasantly, Albarn's vocals intertwine with Coxon's, such as on the lead single The Narcissist.

The album, however, continues to be consistent up to the end, with the mix of ballads such as Russian Strings and The Everglades (for Leonard) as well as more straight-forward rock songs like St Charles Square adding a more personal element to the album, not least with lyrics which shine the brightest on songs such as The Ballad ("I just looked into my life/and all I saw was that you're not coming back") and Goodbye Albert ("I stayed away/[...]/Don't punish me" - this whole verse is brilliant), which I would argue are the best on this already brilliant album. 

Dave Rowntree's drumming shines brilliantly on songs such as Far Away Island and truly brings The Heights into full flow, whilst Alex James' bass playing was great, too, a notable highlight being on the more poppy Barbaric. Damon Albarn's vocals are as good as ever, and Graham Coxon's guitarwork is just exceptional throughout, especially on St Charles Square, the solo at the end of Goodbye Albert and the feedback that abruptly brings the more optimistic The Heights, and the album, to a close. The brass on Avalon also drives the song forward, which I thought made the song sound rather unique amongst a sea of ballads.

This album might sound different to other Blur albums, but it is perhaps Blur's best of this century so far - and may more albums follow!