Download of the Week

Britain’s Blur returned from a hiatus this week, bringing two awesome new tracks with them. Why one, called “Under the Westway” was written for the band’s upcoming performance at the Closing Ceremony of London’s Olympics is plain to see: the song is as uplifting as it is quintessentially British (note allusions to London’s Westway), just like the guys who sing it. Damon Albam lets loose a narrative that is characteristically melancholy, running atop a hymnal piano riff decorated by droning sirens. And by the fifth verse, Albam is “doing 180,” looking beyond London’s mercilessly modern carriageway. This could be Blur’s swan song — it feels like a farewell, to us, to the Summer Games, and to London.