CD reviews: Blur

Taking a break from megalomania and side-projecting, everybody's favourite Brit-poppers return with their first new album (and first to feature the four original members) in more than a decade.

The Magic Whip is a thrilling and engaging artefact, suggesting that the arch, sideways glances at a world gone to the dogs are still intact (the elegiac sweep of Pyongyang) as prodigal axeman Graham Coxon showcases a sonic vivacity at ease with the rest of his comrades, with plenty of nimble, tricksy fretwork and wayward lo-fi electronica, as on the bonkers Ice Cream Shop.

Whoo, and, indeed, hoo.

• Blur. The Magic Whip. Warner Music.

• Four stars (out of five)

Single download: Ice Cream Shop
For those who like: Their Britpop ambitious and their comebacks triumphant

- John Hayden