Blur are back!

Graham Coxon will never be replaced as the Blur guitarist, dotmusic can exclusively reveal.

"There isn't a new guitarist," Dave Rowntree told us this morning, as the band spoke for the first time about the acrimonious departure of the guitar hero.

"Graham always was and always will be the Blur guitarist and one of my best friends," explained the drummer.

The Blur stickman also contradicted rumours that Coxon had been erased from the album completely, by confirming that he did appear on one track.

He also refused to rule out Coxon returning to the Blur camp, saying: "Who knows what the future holds. We're all still friends."

Dave also revealed some little know facts about the album: Ben Hillier (Elbow) takes the majority of the production duties with Norman Cook producing two tracks and "New York old-skool engineer" Howie Weinberg mastering the album.

Speaking via a secure chatroom, Rowntree fielded dotmusic's questions about the new album, telling us that the overall mood in the Blur camp was "very up" continuing that it's "easy to be optimistic when you've made a good record."

Read all Dave's answers by clicking here [site down].

In the meantime, we were given a sneak preview of four new tracks from the album (titles tbc) and below you can find out what we thought:

Track 1 - 'Out Of Time':

The first single. In a similar atmospheric vein to 'Tender' and 'Beetlebum' (without sounding like either), this song creeps up on you, firmly embedding itself your in head after multiple listens. From a jazzy, bass-heavy intro, this gently builds to a defiantly Moroccan-tinged latter half with African string instrument solo.

Damon's vocals are understated and hushed (think 'No Distance Left To Run') while lyrically the song deals with the weighty issues of unhappiness and the frail state of the world with the chorus - "And you've been so busy lately/that you haven't found the time/to open up your mind/and watch the world spinning gently out of time." In short a brilliant song and a comeback that will remind everyone what a great band Blur were and still are.

Track 2:

As the title suggest this is a manic three minutes crammed with beats and samples (surely courtesy of Norman Cook) and punky 'up yours' attitude with plenty of 'yeah yeah yeahs'. If it's not Coxon on guitar then it's someone doing a very good impression. Very reminiscent of 'B.L.U.R.E.M.I.' and 'Song 2' and a sign that Blur haven't completely lost sight of their roots.

Track 3:

Like the single, this sounds like it was product of the trip to Africa with an acoustic guitar refrain repeated all the way through. Although this is not single material, it's a strong track nonetheless with its waves of harmonic backing vocals and Damon's falsetto.

Track 4:

Another change in vocal style over a darker bass and synthetic beats combo that rumble on for two minutes before breaking out in a schizophrenic mesh of random dub, vocal wailing and organ. If you were looking for a Gorillaz connection on the new tracks then you might arrive at the conclusion that this bears some similarities but it's by no means clear-cut.

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