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May 05, 2022 By Mark Redfern Photography by Steve Gullick

The WAEVE is a new duo consisting of Rose Elinor Dougall and Blur guitarist Graham Coxon. The project was announced last month and now they have shared their debut song, “Something Pretty.” It’s built on a steady Krautrock beat and highlights Coxon’s very British accented vocals, before erupting into what sounds like guitar solo from one of Brian Eno’s 1970s classics. The song is being described as a standalone track for now, there’s no word of an EP or album. Listen below.

Last night The WAEVE performed their first show, at the Lexington in London, and are performing again at the venue tomorrow night. Previously they shared a trailer for the band.

The WAEVE collectively had this to say in a previous press release in April: “We are greatly looking forward to unleashing our new sound live at the Lexington next month. We’ve been locked away this year, busy translating the varied sounds of our songs into a dynamic live show, with the help of some great musician friends. We invite you to surrender to the world of The WAEVE.”

Dougall and Coxon started trading messages during lockdown, around Christmas 2020, and the project grew from there.

The previous press release describes the band’s sound in more detail: “Initially drawing on a shared love of English folk music, storytelling and the associated landscapes of this beleaguered island, the collaborators grew in confidence to start voyaging into uncharted waters. The sound developed slowly but surely, voices and words started to find their natural space, guitars and saxophones made clarion calls, strings lifted into other stratospheres.”

Dougall is one of the artists on the cover of our special 20th Anniversary print issue, where you can read an exclusive interview with her.

In 2021, Dougall collaborated with Wesley Gonzalez for a new song, “Greater Expectations,” which was one of our Songs of the Week.

Dougall released her last solo album, A New Illusion, in April 2019 via Vermillion (it was our Album of the Week and one of our Top 100 Albums of 2019). In November 2019 she has shared a new song, “How Long,” a non-album track Dougall said was the last song to be shared from the A New Illusion sessions. “How Long” was one of our Songs of the Week.

Read our interview with Dougall on A New Illusion.

Also read our interview with Dougall on her all-time favorite album.

Plus read our review of A New Illusion.

A New Illusion was Dougall’s third album and the follow-up to 2017’s acclaimed Stelluar (which was one of our Top 100 Albums of 2017). Read our 2017 interview with Rose Elinor Dougall on Stelluar. She was also previously in The Pipettes and in Mark Ronson’s band.

Coxon’s last solo album was 2012’s A+E, but he’s kept busy with soundtrack work, including releasing two albums of songs and score from the acclaimed TV show The End of the F***ing World and his 2021 score to the comic book Superstate.

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