When Blur released their last LP, The Magic Whip, there was much joy since it was their first album since 1999’s 13, where each track featured all of the original band members. Furthermore, The Magic Whip saw Blur reunited with Stephen Street, who produced their first five albums. Whilst The Ballad of Darren does not feature Street, all original members are present, with James Ford producing, and most importantly, the recording experience was harmonious.
So what is The Ballad of Darren’s theme? There does not appear to be one. According to frontman Damon Albarn, Darren is someone who had been prodding him for years to complete the opening song from this LP called “The Ballad”. The sleeve cover features a photograph of Gourock Outdoor Pool, the oldest heated swimming pool in Scotland, taken by British photographer Martin Parr. The reason for its inclusion is opaque, but Gourock lido did feature in The Guardian’s list of the country’s best lidos in the summer of 2022.
“The Ballad” opens with a mellow piano, and Graham Coxon’s harmonies will resonate with halcyon memories of Parklife and The Great Escape. In many respects, “The Ballad” is a mature rendition of “The Universal” whilst also espousing Burt Bacharach-inspired arrangements. The rockiest and heaviest song, “St. Charles Square,” follows with an introduction similar to “Villa Rosie” from Modern Life is Rubbish. The soundscape is one of youthful and haunting excitement through exciting prohibited activities.
Things calm down with “Barbaric”, with its melodic soft rock tempo and quiescent organs. It shares characteristics with “The Puritan” but with less emphasis on the synths. “Russian Strings” and “Far Away Island” connect the listener with ballroom and traditional waltzes.
The strongest songs on The Ballad of Darren are “The Narcissist”, “Avalon”, and “The Everglades”. “The Narcissist”, the leading song from this LP, possesses the emotive feel-good teen rock of the late nineties. “Avalon”, like “The Ballad”, has Bacharach-inspired arrangements but goes further by fusing RnB with urban funk. Unexpected rock opera guitars make “Avalon” the quirkiest and most innovative song of this LP. “The Everglades” is the only song to blend late sixties folk with the tranquil beauty of the material featured on Damon Albarn’s second solo album, The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows.
The flaw with The Ballad of Darren is not its focus, for the most part, on structured melodic songs; the issue is how this LP concludes. The playout track “The Heights” disappoints; it had the potential to develop into something magnificent, but the result is the sound of snippets of various unfinished ideas poorly meshed together. Despite an unsatisfactory conclusion, The Ballad of Darren has impressive material that will add to an already remarkable legacy spanning over three decades.
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