The dictionary – or, in pop/rock music terms, the dictionary meaning All Music Guide – defines Graham Coxon as the “quiet one.” It also goes on to say he was the “chief guitarist” for Blur and described his riffs as “sheer and jointed.” While those latter adjectives are helpful in the same sense that time and place are important in dissecting crime scenes, they aren’t as interesting on that gut level as the why is.
Motive, after all, sells more mystery novels than the sundry weapons employed.
So then why is Coxon, “sheer and jointed”, chief noisemaker, considered the quiet one? Though his latest album doesn’t bear out an adequate answer, it does make for a decent listen. Love Travels At Illegal Speeds comes out with its pants blazing with a snootiness worthy of the Buzzcocks. The roaring anthem, “I Can’t Look At Your Skin,” is enough of a song to firmly establish the former quiet one as his own Bloke. Individual, yet still indelibly under the influence, the connections to the past are strong on most of the 13-track album. Particularly harkening are, “Just A State of Mind” a moody song, strangely like something left off of Parklife, as is the fast-paced, tense but playfully repetitive, “Gimme Some Love.” The album marks Coxon as his own man in the same way we might have looked at Kelly Deal post-Pixies; suddenly, it wasn’t all Frank Black. Here we learn, it isn’t all he media darling centerpiece Damon Albarn. Coxon’s sound is tougher by a scant, dirtier around the edges, and distinct enough to represent a rival career limb. This isn’t necessarily an awe inspiring turn, but there are faint undertones of punk on “I Don’t Wanna Go Out” and “You Always Let Me Down” a thick skinned element that wasn’t there much of his former incarnation.
As it was stated, Graham Coxon’s Love Travels At Illegal Speeds makes for pretty good listening. It certainly doesn’t fall into the “can’t-miss record” category but it is fun enough while it lasts. The bird might have flown for Coxon to break new ground in the refugee world of Manchester pop, but he isn’t exactly embarrassing himself out there either. |