Graham Coxon is Blur’s guitarist and a solo artist. He left the band in 2002, but he subsequently rejoined the band in 2009, during his hiatus from Blur he has established himself as a solo artist playing lo-fi garage rock.
His first solo album,’The Sky Is Too High’, was released in 1998 and has a very muted, uncommercial sound. ‘TSITH’ was followed by ‘The Golden D’ which features two covers of the band Mission of Burma and is considerably less folk-oriented than the last. The next album to come was ‘Crow Sit on Blood Tree’, which has some of his most ethereal tracks to date on, and is very lo-fi. Fourth album ‘The Kiss of Morning’ shows Graham developing as an artist in his own right and the songs take on a more fleshed out and accomplished form. However, it was not until the release of ‘Freakin’ Out’ in 2004 that Coxon had a solo mainstream hit. ‘Happiness in Magazines’, Graham’s fifth album, is largely considered to be his most accessible and complete work, featuring frantic, slick guitar-pop of the highest order.
In 2006 Graham Coxon released his sixth solo album, ‘Love Travels at Illegal Speeds’, preceeded by the UK Top 20 single ‘Standing On My Own Again’. ‘Love Travels at Illegal Speeds’ shows Coxon branching out to try his hand at some new sounds as well as tightening the punk-pop formula that is his hallmark. The album was released in two formats, with a DVD containing interviews and live tracks as an optional extra.| |It marks Coxon’s first album away from his now-defunct indie label ‘Transcopic’. Coxon also played guitar on Peter Doherty’s 2009 solo album Grace / Wastelands.
11th May 2009, Coxon released his 7th album ‘The Spinning Top’. 2009 will see Coxon embark on numerous gigs with Blur, including headlining Glastonbury Festival. |
