It took 11 years for The Good, The Bad & The Queen to release a follow-up to the well-received debut album. Brexit, in which a narrow majority of Britons agreed to leave the European Union, woke up 's creativity . The singer traveled all over the island. Eventually he ended up in Blackpool, a run-down seaside resort where three quarters of the population voted for Brexit. There he wrote most
… of the lyrics that come from a man who sounds like he is struggling with a divorce. Now The Good, The Bad & The Queen is by far Albarn's most sombre and melancholic project. Luckily, Paul Simonon's melodic bass lines and shuffling drums give offsome counterbalance to the gloom. Merrie Land has become a beautiful character sketch of the divided British island, which seems to have an uncertain future anyway. (PdK)more
