Album Review: Graham Coxon – Castle Park
2 min read
Although best known for his creative input in seminal Brit-pop band Blur, Graham Coxon has had a busy few years. From soundtracking the hugely successful Netflix show The End of the Fucking World, to collaborating with his partner on two albums under the name The Waeve, Graham has slowly been compiling an extensive and eclectic solo back catalogue. This year he’s returned with his ninth album, and first official solo effort since 2012, Castle Park.
Opener and initial single Billy Says is a groovy rocker, pummelling along with a hefty bass line and a Graham-signature guitar riff. His sound is uniquely his, and you can’t help hearing hints of Blur’s greatest riffs, especially when the song transitions into its solo section and Graham runs almost casually up the neck. The harmonies in the song are also exceptional, elevating the tune from enjoyable to excellent. Alright and When You Find Out both have jaunty rhythms and 60’s-esc sensibilities. The latter would have been at home in the charts back with The Beatles’ I Wanna Hold Your Hand. The former has a whistled bridge, happy-go-lucky acoustic arrangement, and a classic ‘jealous lover’ story in the lyrics. Isn’t It Funny has an ominous beginning and a filmic, almost Spaghetti Western aesthetic. It keeps its lowly attitude throughout, but always keeps you on your toes.
There’s a Little House is another firmly 60’s ditty, featuring backing vocals from Lucy Parnell, while Easy is a pretty acoustic ballad with a blistering guitar solo at the midpoint. Dripping Soul has a galloping beat and Ennio Morricone-esc backing vocals. Forget Today is another gorgeous mid-tempo ballad complete with organ passages and loose brass. Mélodie Pour Christine is a surprise inclusion on the record. An all too brief instrumental that could be a theme to a period drama, or at least a piece used in a critical scene. Strings rise and fall, harp accentuates the chords, and the whole song builds to a terrific crescendo. So late into the album, it’s brilliant and left-field. All The Rage ends the album on a low-fi acoustic led tune that builds towards the end on a bed of distorted brass. It’s a suitably ambiguous ending to an excellent album.
Castle Park proves again that Graham Coxon is an ingenious and innovative songwriter and producer. He harkens back to an era of music that he didn’t witness first hand and manages to capture not only the sound but the feeling in his songs. When he leans into the more filmic elements he shows a keen understanding of atmosphere, and in arrangement, especially when it comes to track nine. It’s well worth a listen.
Writer and Musician, Ryan Bulbeck has been published with a number of online publications, and has worked with a myriad of great artists, both as a performer, and as a producer. His most recent band The 295 are still active, playing shows around the UK.
