Long-lost indie rock from Blur’s guitar genius.
After 15 years in the home archives, the ninth album by the most original guitarist of the Britpop generation is finally seeing the light of day: CASTLE PARK was created in 2011 in the same sessions as Graham Coxon’s A+E. But the failure of the work (one week in the UK charts and only at number 39) made its creator refrain from releasing it as an immediate successor. When Blur boss Damon Albarn decided to go into the studio with his old band at the beginning of 2012 (which, however, only produced the double single “Under The Westway” / “The Puritan”), CASTLE PARK was shelved.
Which was probably a good decision. Since the euphoric reviews of his two most recent albums with Rose Elinor Dougall as The Waeve, there is now a completely different level of attention for all things Coxon – which, however, also carries the risk of product disappointment. Because CASTLE PARK is completely devoid of synths, saxophone and James Ford’s discoid production.
This by Ben Hillier (who is also Blur’s only [fast] Coxon-less album THINK TANK) is partly countryesque folk rock, which sees the mumbling singer step in front of the microphone as rarely as possible, has a hit for indie daytime radio with “Billy Says” and even enchants with a string-heavy piece of chamber pop with “Mélodie Pour Christine”. The closing “All The Rage” is its touching counterpart to “Dead In The Water” by ex-nemesis Noel Gallagher.