Pitchfork: Blur Ready New EP, Graham Coxon May Rejoin

Blur Ready New EP, Graham Coxon May Rejoin
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Baldness is back! And with it comes the folically challenged, if admirable, men of Blur. And after all the rumors that Think Tank would be their last album! In your face, nerds. The three-piece that was once a four-piece which we once mistakenly referred to as a five-piece (it was 1997, people) have plans to follow-up their 2003 full-length with an as-yet-untitled EP. Though there's no set release date or tracklist to speak of at press time, it has been confirmed that the band has entered the studio yet again, again enlisting the aid of producer Ben Hillier.

It's expected that the songs Blur is recording for the disc will be fleshed-out reinterpretations of tracks first released in crap form last year on frontman Damon Albarn's recent ill-titled demos collection, Democrazy, which he recorded in hotels while Blur toured the United States. The band may also rework other tracks from the compilation for future projects.

Future projects? B-b-but when they gonna break up finally? Well, maybe never, from the looks of things-- Albarn recently confided to 6 Music that he's hoping for the return of former Blur guitarist Graham Coxon, who split from the group during the 2002 Think Tank sessions, following a stay at a London-based detox center to combat alcoholism: "Blur is like a family with one brother no-one talks to," Albarn said. "[That Coxon might rejoin Blur] is a realistic prospect-- the only reason he's not in the band is because he didn't feel he was getting enough say. We're totally capable of making music together. I can forget about all the other things."

In a November 2003 NME interview, however, Coxon wasn't so optimistic. In response to a similar remark from Albarn that stated "Graham will always be the guitarist in Blur," Coxon fired back, "If that's true then why was I uninvited to the studio when I was in Blur? I'm not particularly interested in progress in that area at the moment." For now, as previously reported, Coxon is gearing up to release his fifth solo album, Happiness in Magazines, on May 17th.

With or without Coxon, though, Blur's new, unexpected itinerary will have to work around Albarn's increasingly demanding schedule. Recently, he's been at work on a second studio album with Gorillaz, and is planning collaborations with The Bees (absurdly known in the U.S. as "A Band of Bees," due to some legal bullshit) as well as the Kanye West of underground hip-hop, DJ Danger Mouse.

Additionally, Albarn has set his compass towards Nigeria, where he plans to record with the remaining members of Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti's Africa 70. Though Tony Allen, who also contributed to tracks on the promiscuous Democrazy, will be in tow for the sessions, the Nigeria project is expected to serve as a sort of solo effort for Albarn: "They're all my songs and I'm singing, so there will be focus on me, but we'll have a name that isn't my name. I don't believe in the idea of a solo record. I'm looking for a country guitarist at the moment. There's gonna be a lot of slide guitar..."

After all is said and done, the tuckered-out Brit sensation has other plans, not involving music. "After I've done these records I'm going to take a long time out, possibly to work in theater for a few years," he says. Bring in Da' Doumbek, Bring in Da' Djembe is scheduled to hit Broadway... never.