Even in comparison to the transitioning sound of their self-titled album, 13 is very much a step forward in a new direction for Blur, and it's not just in the new producer; still, Orbit's approach to the band manages to keep in tact what made the group so good, while also adapting to their changing sonic ambitions. Orbit had previously racked up some production credits working with Beth Orton and Madonna (he had helped to produce Ray of Light the year prior, still regularly considered Madonna's greatest studio album), where he had just received praise for his experimental, more electronic production style. He carries over that style to 13, wherein he helps to bring out Albarn's experimental side on quite a few tracks - the swirling, building end of "1992" or the electronic, cold chorus of "B.L.U.R.E.M.I." hlighlight this, but also moments like the murky sound of the trip hop moment "Trailerpark" or the more psychedelic "Trimm Trabb". Really, most of the album showcases a group fed up with making pop music, ready to move on to the next thing swiftly and fully - only "Coffee & TV" plays like a song with any element of the group's former Britpop side still kicking, and yet another moment that showcases the artistic growth of Graham Coxon. That isn't to say that Albarn himself didn't go through creative growth, as his desire for a more experimental album showcases in his moodier moments like the aptly named "Mellow Song" or the expansive 7-and-a-half minutes of "Battle", filled with expanding textures and a rising and falling instrumental that builds on top of itself before being torn back down. Really, 13 speaks to a pure dissatisfaction with making pop music, and while Blur can still work a few hooks into their music, pop music this album is not - it handily stands as Blur's most versatile album up to this point, aside from perhaps the playful energy of Parklife just five years prior. How different that album is from all this!
It's an incredibly varied and filling listening experience, but of course the main thing that elevates 13 is the fact that it's their most consistently good, high quality record since Parklife. The only caveat is that, unlike Parklife or even The Great Escape afterwards, it's more of a slow-burner in terms of appreciating the record, mostly because it isn't as immediately accessible as the clean, expertly performed pop music of its predecessor. Give it time, though, and you'll be rewarded with a satisfying, lyrically rich album. Much of the album's material calls back to Albarn's collapsing relationship with Frischmann, evident out the gate with opening track "Tender" making note of someone who you "love too much" and its despondent chorus of "my baby, oh why". Other moments like the experimental and drawn-out "Battle" are more abstracted in their reflection on Albarn's relationship issues, but some meaning can still be found in the repetition of "battle, battle, battle" throughout the song. The penultimate "No Distance Left to Run" is perhaps the most blatant confrontation of his failed relationship - 13 could be interpreted as an abstracted look at the stages of grief in some sense, with moments like "Swamp Song" playing as anger, "Battle" as bargaining, and "Trailerpark" and "Caramel" as depression, just to name a few ideas. If this theory is correct, then "No Distance Left to Run" is very much acceptance, down to the title and opening lyrics affirming that "It's over - you don't need to tell me". Under this lyrical depth is also plenty of great moments, especially in the album's three singles in "Tender", "No Distance Left to Run", and the album's brilliant "Coffee & TV", which I know I keep bringing up in this review; I do not care. This song is fantastic. Still, plenty of other moments on this album are shining Blur gems, from the noisy "Bugman", which sounds a bit like an extension of ideas from "Song 2" to my ears, to the send-up of Britpop Blur on the music industry dig "B.L.U.R.E.M.I.", or the expansive and dark reflection on heroin addiction that is the brilliant "Caramel".
13 would prove, in some ways, to be Blur's magnum opus statement - a dark, lonely album far removed from the character pieces of British life that the group had just been making at the start and middle of the decade. In some ways, it may be their shift to alt-rock on this album and their self-titled that proved Blur the ultimate winner of the Battle of Britpop - their legacy was secured, and their critical acclaim began to drastically eclipse that of Oasis, who would carry on through the 2000s in a perceived state of being completely off the momentum of their career-defining masterpieces. But of course, this isn't about the Battle of Britpop, because Britpop was dead - Blur would be soon, too. Only one more Blur album would follow this release before the group split up, not reuniting until 2015's The Magic Whip - Albarn's newest musical ambition, the previously mentioned Gorillaz, would take up much of his 2000s output, and given that albums like Demon Days and Plastic Beach came out of that work, perhaps that isn't such a bad thing. Still, 13 very much feels like the end of Blur's classic 90s run, starting as far back as the fantastical Kinks-inspired Modern Life is Rubbish, and ending with this almost complete modal opposite. It showcases an incredible amount of growth, and it's only fitting that Blur would end their 90s era with one of the best album's from it.
RATING: ✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯
Listen to 13.
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