Blur announces the release of new album 'The Ballad of Darren' - hear the enticing first track 'The Narcissist' now

Blur is set to release the new album 'The Ballad of Darren' in July

Blur / Photo: Reuben Bastienne-Lewis

Never say "never"! Blur has surprised the music world and just announced (Thursday, May 18) the release of a new album titled The Ballad of Darren coming July 21, 2023 via Parlophone. Check out the fantastic advance single "The Narcissist" available as an official visualiser video HERE! I can't wait to hear the entire album when it's released in two months.

The Ballad of Darren will be released two weeks after Blur's highly-anticipated concerts at Wembley Stadium. The album marks Blur's first new full-length studio disc since 2015's amazing The Magic Whip (that LP was among my favorite albums of 2015; read my review HERE)

Produced by James Ford, the new album is Blur's ninth studio album.

Damon Albarn greeting the faithful in
Dublin on August 1, 2013. 

I have seen Blur several times. Read my review of the band's memorable performance at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin, Ireland on Aug. 1, 2013 HERE.

The Ballad of Darren will be available in a number of editions and can be pre-ordered HERE. Please note: some editions include two additional tracks.

Here is the track list for The Ballad of Darren:

The Ballad
St. Charles Square
Barbaric
Russian Strings
The Everglades (For Leonard)
The Narcissist
Goodbye Albert
Far Away Island
Avalon
The Heights

Robert Kinsler

America; prepare to meet The Strypes

The Strypes in March 2013. Photo credit: Jill Furmanovsky

This past August I was in Dublin, Ireland and had the fantastic chance to catch Blur in concert. Because I got to the Irish Museum of Modern Art early, I also got to see and was very impressed by the rousing spirit of the opening band on the bill, Ireland's own emerging pub-rock champs The Strypes (read my review of that show here). Now comes word that the band is set to arrive here in the U.S. in connection with the release of Blue Collar Jane. Here is how you can learn more about the promising young outfit:

US DEBUT EP + JANUARY DATES FOR HARD-CHARGING IRISH QUARTET THE STRYPES

Roughneck Irish rhythm and blues band The Strypes have confirmed their debut US EP, Blue Collar Jane, coming out January 21, 2014 on Photo Finish Records.  It features 3 hard-charging originals plus a ferocious version of Nick Lowe's "Heart Of The City."  They've appeared on Jools Holland, been praised by NME and deemed "the most thrilling live band in the UK" by Q Magazine.

You can learn more about the Strypes and check out a number of videos featuring the band via their official Web site: http://thestrypes.com

The Strypes' debut album Snapshot was released last month in the UK and hailed as "one dizzying burst of energy after another" by The Independent.  It debuted in the Top 5 in the UK and Japan.  They are currently on a UK and European arena tour with Arctic Monkeys.

'Blue Collar Jane' EP, produced by Chris Thomas (Beatles, Pink Floyd, Sex Pistols) - out Jan 21:
1.  Blue Collar Jane
2.  Hometown Girls
3.  What The People Don't See
4.  Heart Of The City

DATES:
Jan 20 - Toronto, ON - Lee's Place
Jan 22 - NYC, NY - The Studio @ Webster Hall
Jan 24 - San Francisco, CA - Brick & Mortar Music Hall
Jan 28 - Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour

Information: http://thestrypes.com

Blur rocks in full-length outing at Dublin's Irish Museum of Modern Art

Damon Albarn greeting the faithful in Dublin on August 1, 2013

I'm just back from a fantastic trip to Ireland where my wife and I made our first-ever trip to the Emerald Isle. It was a long-time dream of mine to travel to Ireland and a chance to catch Blur in the band's lone 2013 performance anywhere in Ireland or the United Kingdom was icing on the cake. Add to that a long-standing and kind invite from friends living in Dublin made it a no-brainer to make the flight from Southern California to Dublin to take in all the sights as well as the August 1, 2013 concert.

The Thursday evening concert played outdoors in front of 20,000 or so other fans on the grounds of the historic Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) in Kilmainham under the constant threat of showers. Thankfully it wouldn't rain until we were safely seated in a taxi bound for the cottage where we were staying in Sandyford later that night. 

Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon

Our interest in catching Blur in Europe came after we caught them in Coachella earlier this year. While the legendary band was outstanding at Weekend #2 of the annual music fest in Indio, California, we sensed that American audiences simply have (sadly) never fully connected with the quartet. After making our way close to the stage (we were crushed beyond what we had expected despite a nice warning from a friendly fan named Anthony we met a few days earlier in Cork at a fantastic pub called the Mutton Lane Inn) and immersing ourselves in the experience of an Irish rock concert. The audience sang along with just about every song played over the course of 100 minutes, greeting even the more reflective songs ("Out of Time," "Tender," "The Universal") with the fervor and zeal that Coachellafest attendees greeted the band's best-known hit "Song 2." 

There were times even from our close vantage point where the audience almost drowned out singer Damon Albarn in the choruses. From the show's opening salvo, a bouncy "Girls & Boys," to the declaration of "There's No Other Way" and British-styled anthem "Coffee & TV," young and old moved and sang with the songs in a spirit that allowed me to forgive concertgoers since I couldn't always hear the band clearly.

Albarn was obviously having the time of his life throughout the energetic performance, singing "Country House" from the front row, running back and forth, and generally showcasing his devout role as frontman; he closed the night running past and high fiving all the fans pushed against the front. Guitarist Graham Coxon, bassist Alex James and drummer Dave Rowntree also seemed more engaged than the Coachella gig.

Blur's material ranges from Kinks-styled witty songcraft to raging rockers, so the fact that the audience was so diverse (teens to fifty somethings) added to the occasion to be sure. 

The Strypes impressed early concertgoers

As for the concert's openers, I was much more impressed by the event's openers, the young Cavan, Ireland-based teenage quartet The Strypes than England's Bat For Lashes. But the entire afternoon and evening was a blast, and truly an experience I'll never forget.

On an only somewhat related note, a few days earlier I caught an impressive acoustic styled singer-songwriter named Ben Murphy at Johnnie Fox's Pub. I will be reviewing his aptly-titled album Ireland later this month in my regular column and will alert you in a future post. 

Here is a video featuring Blur performing "Young & Lovely," the first time the band has performed the song this year:



Blur's Setlist on Aug. 1, 2013:

Girls and Boys
Popscene
There's No Other Way
Beetlebum
Out of Time
Trimm Trabb
Caramel
Young & Lovely
Coffee & TV
Tender
To the End
Country House
Parklife (with Phil Daniels)
End of a Century
This is the Low

Encore:

Under the Westway
For Tomorrow
The Universal
Song 2

Photos: Robert and Kim Kinsler