The Magic Whip
| The Magic Whip | ||||
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| Studio album by Blur | ||||
| Released | 27 April 2015 | |||
| Recorded | May 2013, November 2014 – January 2015 | |||
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| Length | 51:42 | |||
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| Singles from The Magic Whip | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Aggregate scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 81/100 |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
| The A.V. Club | B− |
| Chicago Tribune |  |
| The Daily Telegraph | |
| The Guardian | |
| NME | 8/10 |
| Pitchfork Media | 7.0/10 |
| Q | |
| Rolling Stone | |
| Spin | 8/10 |
The Magic Whip is the eighth studio album by the English rock band Blur. It was recorded in Hong Kong and London, and released by Parlophone on 27 April 2015 and Warner Bros. Records on 28 April 2015. It is the band's first studio album since Think Tank (2003), marking the longest gap between two studio albums in Blur's career.
The album received universal acclaim from music critics. It debuted at number one the UK Albums Chart, marking Blur's sixth UK number-one album. It has been certified Gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for sales of over 100,000 copies.
In May 2013, Blur were set to play Japan's Tokyo Rocks Music festival. However, the entire festival was cancelled for unknown reasons, leaving the band stranded in Hong Kong for an extra five days. In an attempt to distract themselves, they worked on new material in Avon Studios, as announced by Damon Albarn during the gig at AsiaWorld–Expo, Chek Lap Kok. Albarn later stated he was unsure whether the resulting music would ever be released. In July 2014, he commented, "There are about 15 songs...the annoying thing is, if I'd been able to write the lyrics there and then about being there, we'd have finished the record. But sometimes, if you can't do it all at once, it dissipates really and I don't know what I'd sing about now with that record. There's some great tunes on there, but it may just be one of those records that never comes out."
In November 2014, Graham Coxon started to work further on the recordings with producer Stephen Street, while Albarn was touring his solo album, Everyday Robots (2014). Coxon commented "I kept thinking about the recordings we had made in Hong Kong and remembering how good it felt. I wouldn't have forgiven myself if I hadn't had another look". Street had worked on Coxon's solo albums but not with Blur since their self titled 1997 release. Coxon would secretly invite James and Rowntree to further recording sessions to build upon the material. Once nearing completion, Coxon presented the music to Albarn to see if it was worthy of an album. On the way back from his tour of Australia in December, Albarn stopped in Hong Kong once more for lyrical inspiration. Vocals were completed towards the end of January 2015 and the album's mastering was finished on 18 February 2015.
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