Whatever prompted guitarist Graham Coxon's departure from Blur doesn't, so he says, find vent on his fourth solo album. Given his mental-health problems, the loss of his girlfriend and his battle with alcoholism, it would seem he has had more than his fill of heartache; consequently The Kiss of Morning is a splenetic, purgative record.
There are songs here (particularly grating caterwaul Escape Song) that would never see daylight were it not for their celebrity provenance, but it is becoming harder to see the joins. Locked Doors is a Beatlesy slouch that the next Blur album will find a tough act to follow, while Do What You're Told To marries a squall of self-loathing to psychedelic metal. "I want you to remember the good times," he intones mournfully on lovely closer Good Times, seemingly as much to himself as to his departed lover. Good luck to him.
