Blur – The exit door from Britpop

Mayfair to Reykjavík, Britpop left behind

In February 1997, Blur released a record that left the Britpop frame they had helped build. The Parklife grin was gone. In its place: dry, rough guitar, American alternative volume, and a two-minute track called “Song 2” that began as a joke and became a shout heard far outside Britain. Recorded between London’s Mayfair Studios and the long Icelandic dark of Reykjavík, the self-titled fifth album sounded like four musicians dropping the style they had been known for.

Stephen Street produced alongside the band, tracking to Otari RADAR hard drives that let jams become finished parts. The opening drum loop of “Song 2” was room mics on two kits, Dave Rowntree and Graham Coxon hammering a pattern Street looped so the band could play over it. “Beetlebum” opened the record with a heavier, hazier weight. “On Your Own” and “M.O.R.” stretched the palette further, while Coxon’s alone-at-the-mic “You’re So Great” sits like a short song left in the middle of the album. Vocals for several tracks were finished in Albarn’s Iceland house, where the winter light arrives late.

What holds Blur together is a break that still uses arrangement. The songs are shorter, rougher, more willing to leave a harsh guitar in the mix. Art-rock edges sit next to indie guitar. The band that once listed English scenes now sounded as if it wanted out of that list, without dropping melody. That tension runs through the album.