Pasaron los años de espera... 12 para ser exactos. No más, por fin regresa Blur a la escena musical con su nuevo álbum The Magic Whip (Parlophone, 2015). La banda británica se reunió en Hong Kong después de que quedaran atrapados ahí durante 5 días por la cancelación del festival musical Tokyo Rocks en 2013. A partir de ahí fueron tomando forma canciones como "Go Out" , "There Are Too Many of Us", "Lonesome Street" , "My Terracotta Heart", "I Broadcast" y "Ong Ong".
Por tratarse de su gran regreso los miembros de Blur comentaron en varias entrevistas sus intenciones con The Magic Whip, las cuales van desde un despertar político hasta sentimientos de flotar con la música. A continuación se pueden leer algunas de sus declaraciones.
“There were moments when I thought we were all going to levitate. It just felt like this sort of power ran through everyone, it was amazing.”
— Graham Coxon y su experiencia artística con The Magic Whip, Entrevista Beats by Dr. Dre; 28 de marzo de 2015
“We've got five days. Let's stick around and write an album (...)We jammed everything until we couldn't jam it anymore (...) And we drank lots of green tea. It felt good, but we were unsure what it was all for, I wasn't sure whether we would create an album, or whether we were just having fun”
—Graham Coxon sobre el contexto en el que se elaboró The Magic Whip; Entrevista Rolling Stone; 23 de abril de 2015
"I was sitting on the sofa; other people were making music and getting on the radio and I hate sitting there not doing much when other people are making music and being told they’re great," (...) "I thought it would be great to go back — now that it's fermented a while — and have a look. For want of a better word, there was some jamming; there was some sonic landscaping. I liken it to someone’s notes and we needed someone to organize them."
—Graham Coxon explica cómo ver la trayectoria y actividad de otros artistas lo impulsó a querer reunirse a trabajar; Entrevista Rolling Stone; 19 de febrero de 2015
"Probably the initial idea came from being in a very claustrophobic city," (...) "but I actually finished the lyric after having come back from Australia. I was there the day they had the hostage situation in the chocolate shop, which was an extraordinary thing to witness. I was staying in a hotel where I could literally see what was going on outside and watch it on television. I’ve never been in that position before, and as a songwriter that was a very interesting standpoint to have. (...) Seeing the reality of what was happening and how it was being distorted through the prism of [the camera] was kind of fascinating."
—Damon Albarn sobre la letra de “There Are Too Many of Us”; Entrevista NME; 27 de febrero de 2015
“Look at music now. Does it say anything? (...) Young artists talk about themselves, not what’s happening out there. It’s the selfie generation. They’re talking platitudes… What are any of them saying? I don’t hear anything other than: ‘This is how I feel.’ Which is an important part of songwriting, but we’re talking in the context of the election - and they don’t have anything to do with it.”
— Damon Albarn sobre la falta de participación política de los artistas jóvenes; Entrevista Sunday Times; 19 de abril de 2015
Ibero 90.9 FM transmitirá el álbum The Magic Whip de principio a fin este lunes 27 de abril a las 6:00 PM, durante el Triste Turno desde la tienda Música en Vinil en la Colonia Roma.