THE MAGIC WHIP

The Magic Whip is the first Blur album since 2003's Think Tank, the first with guitarist Graham Coxon onboard since 1999's 13 (Coxon was booted from the Think Tank sessions a week in and summarily quit), and the first with producer Stephen Street since 1997's Blur. Like Albarn's recent solo work, it explores the distant traveler's conflicting sense of wonder and alienation. The Magic Whip is Blur's surprise reunion record - the biggest surprise of which is how effortlessly it maintains the band's essence, while pushing its sound into uncharted territory. With a few exceptions - the playful Ong Ong, the 1994 time warp Lonesome Street - the album is a moody affair, capturing the bristling tension of later Blur albums. But instead of the tension being directed within the band, it's at the world at large. New World Towers, My Terracotta Heart, Pyongyang; these are all songs searching for something but not really knowing where to look.