Album Review: City Lights by The Waeve

Graham Coxon and Rose Elinor Dougall explore a range of new styles on their second album often to thrilling effect It’s only been 18 months or so since we last heard from The Waeve, the musical project of Blur‘s Graham Coxon and his partner, ex-Pipette Rose Elinor Dougall. Yet in that year and a half, the duo’s sound has evolved dramatically. The self-titled debut was a good introduction, but City Lights sees Coxon and Dougall exploring a range of new styles, often to thrilling effect.

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City Lights, the second album from Graham Coxon and Rose Elinor Dougal's The Waeve, opens with the tonally bewildering title track - a futuro Roxy Music or less depraved version of The Moonlandingz. Interstellar glam meets a glaring excavation of Bowie's Low. Elsewhere, heavy, expansive bass and chugging motorik pulses summon a scuzzier Goldfrapp with a 70s chamber rock rhythm section.

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There's more than a touch of the self-indulgent to 'City Lights', but what are side quests for if not self-indulgence? Across its ten tracks, 'City Lights' carefully meanders along the line between maximalism and pop nous, all the while sounding sonically full, whether in the swooping strings of dreamlike closer 'Sunrise' or via the early '80s as on industrial post-punk number 'Moth To The Flame'. As expected, it's the interplay between hard and soft that takes centre stage, whether via the pair's dual vocals as on 'You Saw', the thematic tenderness of 'Song For Eliza May' and its abrasive, squalling guitar, or even through following the dreamy, melancholic 'Simple Days' with an enthrallingly unholy guitar sound on the deceptively pop 'Broken Boys'. And against the full fever dream wig out that 'Druantia' falls into, is the opening title track, its classic songwriting accommodating a wiry (or should it be Wire-y) guitar line.

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The Waeve, a project led by blur's Graham Coxon and singer-songwriter Rose Elinor Dougall is a fascinating melting pot of genres, their 2023 debut album signalling a departure from the sound of the pair's earlier work and earning them acclaim. The Waeve now returns with their second LP ‘City Lights’ promising a similar blend of styles. The title track kicks things off in emphatic fashion with Coxon showing his prowess, unfurling some impressive riffs before the pair's vocals come in.

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