Blur Announce New Album, Share New Song “The Narcissist” | Under the Radar | Music Blog for the Indie Music Magazine
Friday, February 7th, 2025  

Blur Announce New Album, Share New Song “The Narcissist”

The Ballad of Darren Due Out July 21 via Parlophone

May 18, 2023 Photography by Reuben Bastienne-Lewis

Britpop icons Blur have announced a new album, The Ballad of Darren, and shared its first single, “The Narcissist.” The Ballad of Darren is due out July 21 via Parlophone. Listen to “The Narcissist” below, followed by a teaser video for the album, as well as the album’s tracklist and cover artwork.

The Ballad of Darren is the band’s first new album in eight years, since 2015’s The Magic Whip, although the members of Blur have kept plenty busy since then. In the intervening years frontman Damon Albarn has released several albums with Gorillaz (including Cracker Island this past February), as well as the 2021 solo album, The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows, and the 2019 album with The Good, The Bad, & The Queen, Merrie Land. In January, drummer Dave Rowntree released his debut solo album, Radio Songs, on Cooking Vinyl. In February, guitarist Graham Coxon and Rose Elinor Dougall released their self-titled debut album as The WAEVE (pick up our current print issue to read our interview with Coxon and Dougall about the album). Coxon also recently released a memoir, Verse, Chorus, Monster!. Bassist Alex James, meanwhile, has been running a cheese farm.

James Ford produced The Ballad of Darren, which was recorded in London and Devon. The album’s cover artwork is an image by British photographer Martin Parr. Blur had previously announced some 2023 concerts, including two shows at London’s Wemberly Stadium.

Albarn had this to say about the album in a press release: “This is an aftershock record, reflection and comment on where we find ourselves now.”

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

James says: “For any long term relationship to last with any meaning you have to be able to surprise each other somehow and somehow we all continue to do that.”

Rowntree says: “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 Ballad of Darren Tracklist:

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

Support Under the Radar on Patreon.



Comments

Submit your comment

Name Required

Email Required, will not be published

URL

Remember my personal information
Notify me of follow-up comments?

Please enter the word you see in the image below:

There are no comments for this entry yet.