For Blur fans the wait for a new album from the Brit-pop legends has been twelve long years, but the good news is that the wait is finally over with the announcement that 2015 will see them back again with their eighth studio record, The Magic Whip. While the band has been pretty busy in the intervening years since the release of their last album Think Tank in 2003 with their own solo projects, it’s been interesting to hear them back together again.
Inevitably, it was never going to be the same as it was in the tub thumping stomp of the 1990s, when they were at the height of their sway over the British music scene, but it does make for a strong return for the band, albeit in a very different direction. The Magic Whip was released on CD, double vinyl and digital download on the 27th April 2015 and they’ll be following it up with their first confirmed gig date of 2015, headlining BST Hyde Park on the 20th June.
To kick start the celebrations for Blur’s return with the new album, they’ve recently released Go Out as the first track from record, which was our first chance to hear what their new music is going to sound like. You can watch the lyrical music video and associated cooking lesson in the YouTube stream below to listen to the song for yourself and it’s already available for digital download from iTunes and Amazon.
The track itself has got a mad feedback intro that works well with the slightly deranged video, which was a pretty big early indication that the new album would see the band continuing their off-the-wall exploits with the new album. It leads into a surrealist chant with the piercing feedback loop firing in the background like some kind of sonic laser beam to the head.
It’s a mid-tempo lo-fi grind turned brilliantly by Damon Alburn’s flattened, punchy vocals that sound like a direct continuation from his recent solo release, Everyday Robots. The drums are pounded out by Rowntree and there’s an element of noise rock slicing into the track cutting through Coxon’s overdriven guitar flicks, thwacks and fuzz packets. The guitar solo towards the end of the track sounds like it came straight out of a Lou Reed Metal Machine playbook.
While it’s been twelve years since Blur’s last album, you’ll have to go back sixteen for their last entry as a four piece, but with Graham Coxon coming back into the fold with the band’s reformation in 2009 The Magic Whip is their first fully reunited album since 13 in 1999 and it’s turned out to be quality. Read our full review to find out more.
The Magic Whip track list:
1. Lonesome Street
2. New World Towers
3. Go Out
4. Ice Cream Man
5. Thought I Was A Spaceman
6. I Broadcast
7. My Terracotta Heart
8. There Are Too Many Of Us
9. Ghost Ship
10. Pyongyang
11. Ong Ong
12. Mirrorball
