Listen to new Blur single The Narcissist, as the reunited BritPop superstars announce their first album in eight years, The Ballad Of Darren

Blur in 2023 — (Image credit: Reuben Bastienne-Lewis)

Blur's reunion activity is not going to be confined to live shows, as the group have announced the forthcoming release of their first album in eight years, The Ballad Of Darren.

The follow-up to 2015's The Magic Whip is being teased by the release of a new Blur single, The Narcissist.

Each member of the band has made his own individual statement about the forthcoming record, Blur's ninth album, which was produced by James Ford and recorded at Damon Albarn's Studio 13 in London, and in Devon.

“This is an aftershock record," says vocalist Albarn, “reflection and comment on where we find ourselves now.”

“The older and madder we get, it becomes more essential that what we play is loaded with the right emotion and intention," adds guitarist Graham Coxon. “Sometimes just a riff doesn’t do the job.”

Dave Rowntree chips in with, “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 bass player said something too, but nothing important.

The tracklist for The Ballad Of Darren is:

1. The Ballad
2. St Charles Square
3. Barbaric
4. Russian Strings
5. The Everglades (For Leonard)
6. The Narcissist
7. Goodbye Albert
8. Far Away Island
9. Avalon
10. The Heights

Listen to the single below:

YouTube

Watch On

Blur play an intimate show at Colchester Arts Centre tonight (May 19) and have underplay shows in Eastbourne, Wolverhampton and Newcastle next week ahead of a string of festival appearances in Europe, and two nights at London's Wembley Stadium in July, at which snooker legend Steve Davis will support.

TOPICS

A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.