Blur’s “The Narcissist” is Our Song of the Week

Song of the Week delves into the contemporary songs we simply can’t get out of our heads. Discover these tracks and extra on our Spotify Top Songs playlist, and for our favourite new songs from rising artists, try our Spotify New Sounds playlist. This week, Blur present no indicators of rust on “The Narcissist.”

The final time we heard from Britpop legends Blur was in 2015. The band had simply made their long-awaited comeback with The Magic Whip, their first document in 12 years, and had been showcasing an more and more contemplative, wandering, outright unusual imaginative and prescient of Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Alex James, and Dave Rowntree’s artsy pop rock. Now, with almost one other decade misplaced to time, the band as soon as once more returns, doubling down on the confident, meditative “The Narcissist.”

Gone is the tongue-in-cheek explosiveness of “Tune 2” or the disco-rocking grooves of “Ladies and Boys” that introduced them to the highest of the charts within the ‘90s. As an alternative, “The Narcissist” seamlessly picks up the place the earlier two LPs left off – a powerful feat contemplating Assume Tank celebrated its twentieth anniversary earlier this month.

The tune is an odyssey that builds however by no means implodes. Albarn guides the listener by a soundscape of indie guitars, harmonized backing vocals, and a mixture of programmed and dwell drums, and every time you suppose they’re about to kick on the fuzz and let it rip, they pull again, exhibiting the maturity that comes with many years of songwriting.

Time will inform if the remainder of Blur’s upcoming document, The Ballad of Darren, will proceed to embrace such restrained songwriting, or if “The Narcissist” is merely a purple herring. However for now, Blur has but once more confirmed that regardless of how a lot time they take between releases, their songs don’t endure one bit.

— Jonah Krueger

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Honorable Mentions:

Sailor Honeymoon – “Cockroach”

Tough across the edges, completely scuzzy, and endlessly enjoyable, Sailor Honeymoon’s “Cockroach” is likely one of the most enjoyable, fully-realized debut indie rock singles to return out in an excellent whereas. Simply two minutes and alter, the track swings between a fuzzed-out, melodic refrain and a sparse, cheeky spoken-word verse. The result’s a tune that’s value having on repeat till regardless of the Korean rockers serve up subsequent. — J.Okay.