Watch Blur Premiere New Song "Under The West Way"

by Brett Warner

Music Editor
On Feb 20, 2012

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Blur's chief songwriters Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon dropped what could be the first new song from the widely purported new Blur album last night in London during a War Child benefit concert at Shepherds Bush Empire. "We wrote [it] just up the road a couple of weeks ago," said Albarn by way of introduction before launching into a gorgeous piano/acoustic guitar number called "Under The West Way", the band's first new song to see the light of day since 2010's Record Store Day single "Fool's Day".

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Check out a fan video of the performance right here:

(via Consequence Of Sound)

First thoughts?

It's bloody amazing—I could be wrong, but have Blur ever recorded anything quite so piano heavy? (It'll be interesting to hear the song in its finished studio incarnation... don't hold out on us, boys!) Reminds me a little of The Great Escape's "Best Days"—has that same lilting, very English brand of melancholy Blur used to do so well. Hard to pick out some of the words, but considering that Think Tank (the band's last album, recorded largely without Graham) was an overproduced mess, it's beyond refreshing to hear Blur sounding so immediate and organic.

Couldn't be more excited to hear more new Blur music... but what do you guys think of "Under The West Way"? Hit up our comments section below with your first impressions.

Using Spotify? Listen to Best Of Blur (2000) by Blur right here.

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Follow Brett Warner on Twitter: @Erasurehead

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