Graham Coxon and Rose Elinor Dougall Archives

THE WAEVE Rock Out On Brand New Riveting Ripper ‘LOVE IS ALL PAIN’

Posted on February 18, 2025 by JL

Daily electricity to load your batteries

18 February 2025

Photo Credit: Kalpesh Lathigra

THE WAEVE – Blur‘s guitarist Graham Coxon and singer/keyboardist
partner Rose Elinor Dougall – launched their rad sophomore album,
titled City Lights, last year, following their splendid self-titled debut
from 2023.

And the tandem’s creativity/productivity keeps on rolling.

They dropped a brand-new piece, named LOVE IS ALL PAIN.
It’s the harbinger for a 3-track EP, titled Eternal, that will be
out on 14th March via Transgressive Records.

EP artwork

TUTV: Wowzers! The Waeve rock out on this new riveting ripper.

The glowing intensity at work here expands with a hair-rising velocity as
the stormy trip rushes on. Greedy guitars, sizzling synths, motorized drums
and buzzing sax interjections join arms to create a smoking resonance you
simply can’t resist and brings Coxon‘s pumped-up rough-and-tumble commotion
of some of his solo albums. And the alternating vocals add again a seductive
impassion.

Never thought that painful love
could sound this invigorating .

“Oh! Love is all pain
Thought I’d escaped it
But I need it again
It’s hard, it’s hard
It’s harder than hell
I know you feel it, babe
I know you can tell”

Watch the ’80s-tinged video, shot
entirely on black and white 8mm film.

16th March – Academy 2, Manchester
19th March – The Leadmill, Sheffield
20th March – KOKO, London
21st March – Trinity, Bristol
22nd August – Colchester Castle Summer Series
24th August – Victorious Festival, Portsmouth

Tickets here.

The Waeve: Instagram – Spotify

THE WAEVE – A Saxy Modern-Day Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra Pairing – Debut LP Out Now

Posted on February 3, 2023 by JL

Standout longplayers

3 February 2023

British duo THE WAEVE – aka Graham Coxon (Blur) and songstress
Rose Elinor Dougall – have their first collaborative, self-titled album
out today. Order info here.

NME talked with the pair about the longplayer.

DIY Magazine: “This self-titled debut from the pairing of Blur guitarist Graham Coxon and journeywoman songwriter Rose Elinor Dougall is a curious collection of contrasts. Most notably, that between the protagonists’ own voices; Rose’s a strong, smooth and often deep one with an almost RP accent; Graham’s his signature twang, faltering and vulnerable. The rough and the smooth rub up against each other – the squall of Graham’s guitar juxtaposed against slick brass, soaring strings or appearing just as the lyrical content threatens to veer into soppy territory… Cinematic in scope, often luscious in its arrangements, it’s a singular gem.”
Score: 4/5.

TUTV: Several tracks bring the thought to mind of Coxon-Dougall being a modern
day Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood. As romantic, dreamy, and moony as the glam
stars were, but The Waeve explore other places too (alone or together), where it’s
rather darksome, misty and not glamorous at all.

Coxon‘s bedazzling saxophone play is everywhere. It creates a jazzy and smoky
night-bar coziness on the lullabies (Drowning / Over and Over / Undine), it glows on
the groovy hauntingness of Kill Me Again (one of the best singles of 2022 on Turn Up
The Volume‘s list), Sleepwalking and Someone Up There, and it goes over the top on the head-spinning psych pace of Something Pretty and on the ballad Can I Call You that
turns into a prog-rock jam midway.

Different moods, different sonic textures, with matching vocal performances.
Back now to another couple of spins, to get even deeper into the versatile
layers at play here. Join me, it’s a riveting ride.

Key singles/clips: Kill Me Again / Drowning / Over and Over

– KILL ME AGAIN –
Stunning sax-groover