The Magic Whip

After a 12-year break between studio albums, Blur remain as intrepid and inventive as they’ve ever been. <i>The Magic Whip</i> finds the Britpop icons reuniting with a collection that's both wonderfully familiar and endlessly surprising. “Lonesome Street” kicks off with the ecstatic crunch of guitar and then takes on new colours and textures, with psychedelic synth flourishes and kooky harmonies. While the gleefully distorted “I Broadcast” buzzes and roars, the melancholy sway of “New World Towers” and the serpentine soul of “My Terracotta Heart” leave a haunting afterglow.