13

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Blur's penitence for Brit-pop continues with the aptly named 13, which deals with star-crossed situations like personal and professional breakups with Damon Albarn's longtime girlfriend, Justine Frischmann of Elastica, and the group's longtime producer, Stephen Street. Building on Blur's un-pop experiments, the group's ambitions to expand their musical and emotional horizons result in a half-baked baker's dozen of songs, featuring some of their most creative peaks and self-indulgent valleys. Albarn has been criticized for lacking depth in his songwriting, but his ballads remain some of Blur's best moments. When Albarn and crew risk some honesty, 13 shines: on Tender, Albarn is battered and frail, urged by a lush gospel choir to get through it. His confiding continues on 1992, which alludes to the beginning -- and ending -- of his relationship with Frischmann. On No Distance Left to Run, one of 13's most moving moments, Albarn addresses post-breakup ambivalence, sighing, I hope you're with someone who makes you feel safe while you sleep. While these songs reflect Albarn's romantic chaos, Mellow Song, Caramel, and Trimm Trabb express day-to-day desperation. Musically, the saddest songs on 13 are also the clearest, mixing electronic and acoustic elements in sleek but heartfelt harmony. However, B.L.U.R.E.M.I. is a by-the-numbers rave-up, and the blustery Swamp Song and Bugman nick Blur's old punky glam pop style but sound misplaced here. Trailerpark veers in yet another direction, a too-trendy trip-hop rip-off that emphasizes the band's musical fog, proving that William Orbit's kitchen-sink production doesn't serve the songs' -- or the band's -- best interests. 13's strange, frustrating combination of expert musicianship and self-indulgence reveals the sound of a band trying to find itself. With some closer editing, this could have been the emotionally deep, sonically wide album Blur yearns to make. ~ Heather Phares, Rovi