If one moment sums up blur: To The End , a new film charting the return in 2023 of one of this country’s best bands of the last three decades, it is a quiet moment, during a break in recording, as the reunited band sit talking in the studio. Singer Damon Albarn slides into a tiny gap between guitarist Graham Coxon and bass player Alex James on a sofa. He leans into the warm, easy embrace from either side, as drummer Dave Rowntree looks on.
It’s a rare moment of stillness and peace for Albarn. This is a man constantly on the move, described in the film by James Ford – producer of Blur’s 2023 LP The Ballad of Darren , as “pathologically addicted to making new stuff all the time”. And it hints at the deeper story behind the band’s surprise, but hugely successful comeback.
Because when Damon Albarn hit a personal post-lockdown low, when he found himself living alone for the first time in decades, holed up in his secluded South Devon farmhouse, his finely tuned musical subconscious conjured the songs to bring his oldest friends to him. And they showed up for him. The trailer for blur: To The End – a new film directed by Toby L.
The result was not only an album to rival any Blur have produced since forming in 1989 and the biggest UK shows of their career. Perhaps the even bigger result was a new, improved understanding between the four members. Over the course of the film, we see Albarn, Coxon, James and Rowntree commune with their long and complex personal and musi.