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Back to: Archive · 2004 'Democrazy' reviewed From Mojo magazine, January 2004. Review by John Harris.  At the end of 1995, Damon Albarn grandly declared Britpop dead, and began the phase of his career that was defined by his obsession with Iceland and belated discovery of American alt rock, and publicly launched by the release of 1997's Blur. Ever since, his work with that band has been characterised by the clear intent to leave behind the artifice and thematic conceits that defined the so-called Life Trilogy (taking in Modern Life Is Rubbish, Parklife and The Great Escape) and embrace an altogether more instinctive way of working. These days, his compositions are often given work-in-progress titles - Song 2, Mellow Song, Good Song - while his lyrics, once the work of a concept-crazed storyteller, tend to speak in the inarticulate language of the heart. The trajectory will surely be familiar to any rock history student: There are echoes of The Beatles' '67-era fondness for what they termed "random", John Lennon's post-Fabs belief that what emerged first was probably best, and Blur's early role model, Syd Barrett. If this year's largely wonderful Think Tank represented the most satisfying realisation of Albarn's post-Britpop methods to date, the woefully-titled Democrazy ("it stopped me from going crazy, by doing demos") is unquestionably its most extreme manifestation. To hell with mediation, production, or even the simple notion of finishing songs off: here are 14 works-in-progress, recorded on to a porta-studio in a succession of American hotel rooms. Lest anyone misunderstand his intentions, Albarn has already, rather haughtily, defined the terms in which these records are to be understood: "There's some potentially very good stuff on there... but you have to have an understanding of the musical process to be able to hear that. I don't want people to buy something they're not going to appreciate." Quite right, m'lud... Aside from a handful of instrumental snatches, so insubstantial that the passing of any kind of judgement would be absurdly misplaced, Democrazy's main events are six or seven tantalising sketches. Exactly what will become of them is unclear: a handful are in keeping with the abiding mood of Think Tank, while others sound destined for the Gorillaz album that will reportedly materialise next year. In the former bracket sits I Miss You, a wilfully dumb love song in the same ballpark as Gene By Gene, and Sub Species Of An American Day, which sounds like it has the potential to equal the distracted dreaminess of On The Way To The Club. Gorillaz-wise, there's A Rappy Song, which rather gives the game away by including the 'G' word, and I Need A Gun: both exemplars of the knock-kneed funkiness that Albarn minted circa 2001. Best of all are two pieces that hold out beguiling possibilities indeed. Half A Song may be precisely that - a one minute sketch, featuring Albarn, a guitar, and a smattering of backing vocals - but it brims with the tender intimacy that defined such past triumphs as Strange News From Another Star, Tender and No Distance Left To Run. And on Go To Get Down With The Passing Of Time, you can just about make out the first stirrings of life-affirming gem, perhaps pitched mid-way between 1999's Tender and Think Tank's expansive finale, Battery In Your Leg. Or it might be reinvented beyond recognition, hurled into the creative swing-bin, or both. That you're left wondering is, it seems, the whole point. Mid-way through the first EP, Five Star Life suggests that for all Albarn's devil-may-care spontaneity, the opinions of critics may still weigh on his mind. "It's a five-star life," he sings, in a croaky falsetto. "And everything you do better be five-star... Five-star movies, five-star books, and if you write, a five-star song..." Well, here are an encouraging three. Now go and do it, eh? Rating: 3 out of 5. |