Dave Rowntree<\/a> has mirrored on Blur<\/a>\u2019s discography, and named the album he thinks is the band\u2019s strongest \u201cby quite a long way\u201d.<\/p>\n During a brand new interview the drummer had with Super Deluxe Edition<\/a><\/em>, the drummer seemed again on the large milestones the band have accrued over the previous 12 months \u2013 together with their two huge exhibits at London\u2019s Wembley Stadium<\/a>, and the discharge of their model new documentary, Blur: To The End<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n In the dialogue, Rowntree elaborated on how the members took an identical method to their reunion exhibits as they did on their newest album, 2023\u2019s \u2018The Ballad Of Darren\u2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a conscious decision to strip things back, both on the tour and \u2018The Ballad Of Darren\u2019. In the shows, we didn\u2019t have a string section and we only had a choir on \u2018Tender\u2019,\u201d he defined.<\/p>\n \u201cWe didn\u2019t have brass or the other things that make a bigger sound and can artificially enhance everything. There\u2019s nothing wrong with that and we\u2019ve done it in the past, but we took the decision not to do that this time. We wanted to say those things in other ways, so there was lots more singing, trying to find other ways of filling out the sound to make it bigger.\u201d<\/p>\n This \u2013 paired with a way of \u201canxiety\u201d about going into the studio for the primary time since their 2015 album \u2018The Magic Whip\u2019<\/a> \u2013 helped make the challenge into what he sees as their finest thus far.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m so disparaging when other musicians of a certain age say this of their recent work, but I think it\u2019s the best thing we\u2019ve ever done, and by quite a long way,\u201d Rowntree continued.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I\u2019m very well aware most middle-aged popstars think their latest album is their best work by far, and that most of them are deluding themselves. I\u2019ll be guided by what other people think.\u201d<\/p>\n He added: \u201cThere are certainly some great immediate songs on it. I heard Tom Robinson talk about being out of the spotlight for a long time and how his main anxiety in making a new record was still being able to write songs that people liked on the first listen. One of our selling points is that you can play one of our records and immediately go: \u2018Oh, I like that a lot.\u2019 Some bands lose that and they suffer as a result.\u201d<\/p>\n Around the time of its launch, NME<\/em> gave \u2018The Ballad Of Darren\u2019 a glowing four-star overview<\/a>, and praised the band for not enjoying it protected of their method. \u201cUnlike many of their peers, there has never been a timelessness to a Blur album \u2013 that\u2019s a good thing,\u201d it learn.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you listen to \u2018Modern Life Is Rubbish\u2019<\/a> now, you can feel disdain for the culture that surrounded them, or the raw confusion of heartbreak on 1999\u2019s \u201813\u2019; they have a way of transporting you to a precise moment or emotion. It\u2019s why \u2018The Ballad of Darren\u2019 is so memorable and touching: you can feel it, everything, in every line sung or note played.\u201d<\/p>\n More not too long ago, the To The End<\/em> documentary was given a five-star overview, with NME <\/em><\/a>writing: \u201cThey bicker, they hug, they name one another c**ts, they get the job achieved. While Blur\u2019s final doc and accompanying reside film No Distance Left To Run was a portrait of a band celebrating their legacy and giving a nostalgia-hungry world precisely what they craved, this religious sequel exhibits a band merely supporting one another.<\/p>\n \u201cWhether they return again or not remains to be seen. But even if they don\u2019t, this was one hell of a final fling.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Dave](\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Blur@2000x1270.jpg\")