It's been four years since Blur has released an album, and in that time it's lead singer, Damon Albarn, has created a small musical dynasty with his spin-off projects. First their was Gorillaz, who reached massive worldwide acclaim last year with their second album, the DJ Danger Mouse production Demon Days and it's Grammy-winning single "Feel Good Inc." Being as it was a cartoon band, Gorillaz far exceeded its expected potential, leaving Albarn to try something more conventional for his next act.
Out comes The Good, the Bad, and the Queen. The band consists of Albarn on vocals, Clash bassist Paul Simonon, Verve guitarist Simon Ong, and afrobeat dummer Tony Allne. DJ Danger Mouse is back as producer too, so although the sound is more akin to that of a traditional indie rock band, it still has hints of the same ambient electronica that permeated Demon Days, despite pulling back from the hip-hop vibe of that album.
Opening track "History Song" in particular sounds like a late-night Gorillaz jam session. Repetitive guitars, bass, and keyboards with Damon Albarn's soothing voice over it. The atmospheric "History Song" gives way to the more melodic and uptempo "'80s Life," which features '60-ish repeating piano chords over a synthetic keyboard stream and a heavy bass line.
The Good, the Bad, and the Queen is one among a set of recent releases chronicling modern life in London, along with Lily Allen's Alright, Still and Bloc Party's A Weekend in the City. "Northern Whale" epitomes that theme explicitly--a rumination on the recent occurance of a whale actually finding it's way up the River Thames into London. Again it sounds like a very Gorillaz-ish song, albeit more mellow. It's got a great reliance on staccatic piano chords and some funky electronic bass.
"Kingdom of Doom" is another cool song. Acoustic guitars, shimmering cacaphonic electronic keyboards, and Albarn's processed vocal blend effortlessly, breaking into a Beatles-like moment of charging piano chords during the chorus. "Herculean," the album's first single, sounds surprisingly like something that French techno group Air would have come up. (I'm a big Air fan, so it's not a bad thing.) It's moody, seemingly dark, yet surprisingly uplifting.
"Behind the Sun" starts off simply enough with some guitar and bass swagger but breaks into string-backed choruses set apart from its fuzzy snyth verses. "The Bunting Sun" is another Air-like moment of ambient electronica, probably the least interesting track so far, but certainly not bad. War is an ever-present theme on here, as it is sadly on lots of albums lately, but no more so than on "Nature Springs" As its lyrics suggest, where once Oceanographers charted the rise of seas, "today is a submarine." Yikes. Whistles, guitar, keyboards, strings, and bass all vy for the microphone here. "A Soldier's Tale" has a similar sound: scratchy guitars, weeping strings, some whistling.
"Three Changes" sounds like a carnival rolling into town before the bass and drums take over. About two-thirds through the song though it takes an interesting little break, then resumes the bass and guitar. Not my favorite, but interesting.
Apocalyptic "Green Fields" is a definite highlight. Spanish guitars, shimerring electronic keyboards, gentle acoustic guitar, and an environmentalist theme ("we saw the green fields turn into stone") make for a great little song that just over 2 minutes long. In fact, much of these songs are pretty short--four are under 3 minutes--so 7-minute closer "The Good, the Bad, and the Queen" really stands out just by its length. Haunting piano that's recorded to sound somehwat distant opens this number, joined soon by drums, bass, and other assorted electronic sounds. Even some electric guitar gets a word in before it's over. About a third of the way in the tempo kicks up a few notches, the guitar takes over, and the crash cymbal goes crazy, the song reaching for a frenzied musical climax to cap off the moody atmospherics that came before it.
Other reviewers have commented that The Good, the Bad, and the Queen takes a few listens to really sink in, and I agree. iTunes reports that I listened to it seven times before writing this review, and I agree that I didn't really appreciate it upon first listen, but it's grown on me more and more. An odd, but good album, blending the melodic best of Gorillaz with the apocalyptic sensibility of bands like Muse.
1 comment:
It is the first album (can I still say album?) I have purchased since Coldplay's x&y(I don't get out much). I really love it. Wouldn't you agree that there is kind of a "Flock of Seagulls" thing going on through a couple of the songs, and a 25 or 6 to 4 feel towards the end of "The Good The Bad and The Queen?"
Peace.
Post a Comment