Blur guitarist Graham Coxon and former Pipette member Rose Elinor Dougall are back with City Lights, their second album as The WAEVE. As with their debut, they worked with producer James Ford (Blur’s The Ballad of Darren, Fontaines DC’s ROMANCE, many Arctic Monkeys albums, etc). “On our first album, we created this world to dwell in and to express ourselves,” Coxon says. “This album is more about taking more of an outward look.”
The WAEVE is a true collaboration, and you can feel Dougall and Coxon’s presence — musically, vocally, lyrically — across these 10 songs, whether it’s an ethereal, flute-laden ode to new motherhood (“Simple Days”), skronky/glammy Berlin Bowie new wave (“Moth to the Flame”), motorik postpunk rippers (“Broken Boys”), windswept, string-laden baroque (“Song for Eliza May”), or wildly romantic balladry (“I Belong To”). Their voices sound great together, and The WAEVE also givens Coxon a chance to show off his considerable skills as a saxophonist.
For more on City Lights, Coxon and Dougall were kind enough to break down every track for us in depth, talking about both lyrical themes and musical inspiration. You can read that, and watch visualizers for every song on the album below.
CITY LIGHTS TRACK BY TRACK
“City Lights”
Graham Coxon: City Lights came together early in the process of making the album. We built it around a chord sequence, and I knew right away I wanted it to have big, roomy drums. We had the luxury of several drum kits to choose from, which helped us get that big rock sound. I was also experimenting with sharp, jarring guitar leads, though the full melody didn’t come together until later. Originally, I had a melody in mind, but I wasn’t happy with it. Then one day, while pushing our daughter around in her pram, the right melody just appeared in my head.
Rose Ellinor Dougall: That melody ended up being a great springboard into the rest of the record. It’s the closest thing to a pop song The WAEVE has ever produced. When we first demoed the track, it felt like we were venturing into bolder territory. That energy spilled into the rest of the album, giving other songs more confidence.
Graham: Yeah, it set the tone for the album, showing me that I could play with big, washes of guitar without letting the guitar dominate everything. Subject matter, I’m still not fully sure what it’s about but I guess it’s a night out—particularly in areas of the city where creative types gather. I’ve always had this idea that those trendy spots are also where the “monsters” are… It’s about dealing with that mix of allure and threat, the paranoia and overprotectiveness that can creep in. It might all be a bit exaggerated—I’m kind of neurotic. It’s accessible and seductive, but then it has got this discordance, this anger and tension and awkwardness with it which is sometimes like a night out. It’s also very romantic, there’s this idea of flying through the night and the lyric – ‘you’re in my soul, take me over to the other side’ – whatever that means. It’s important that there are these triggers throughout lyrically and that it’s not too much of a narrative… It’s a sort of loose and atmosphere… an illustration of a confusing situation. On the first album, we created this world to dwell in and to express ourselves… This album is more about taking more of an outward look.
“You Saw”
Rose: I came up with this sort of repetitive pattern on the piano which I realized quickly would be well suited to strings. I liked that propulsive quality we achieved so I started playing around with this little corg delta, it made me feel like I was making a Broadcast record, which is always something I’ve wanted to do. Then I put this little horn part together and that lifted it into a different space and Graham turned up and whacked a load of guitars and bass on it.
I wanted to make something urgent feeling. I was thinking about how you reconcile your past self with your present self and acknowledging how different my life is and how it has changed so dramatically in such a short space of time. It can sometimes be a challenge to work out the relationship between the past version of yourself to the one you find yourself in.
It’s almost a celebration of managing to escape the place you can find yourself stuck in for a while. It’s even simple things, I spent a long time in Hackney and then within a year I was like living in leafy Muswell Hill pushing a baby around.
We didn’t box ourselves in on the first record, so there were a lot of threads that we could pick up on here. It’s something that just happens naturally.
Graham: What is great about it is that we developed our sonic palette from the first record and that was an important part of how we sounded. Like, with the saxophones, either playing lead things or being stacked up and doing interesting chord stuff and how that sound mixes with the sound of Rose’s voice and my own. They have a kind of a peculiar, nice way of gluing together to make a good sound.
I like the idea that there’s such a positivity towards the end of You Saw. There’s a lot of juxtaposition and uncertainty throughout. It comes out to this sort of moment of relief or sort of unification.
“Moth to the Flame”
Graham: There’s a nightmare in it because it’s about nightmares. It’s about a recurring nightmare. One in which I find myself in these almost Dickensian towns, I don’t know where I am, amongst people that all seem threatening. I had them quite a lot and they would disturb me.
I thought, the only thing I’ve got to do is to write this down as lyrics. I always feel so dislocated and strange after the dreams, and I was always trying to figure out what they meant, It was an interesting idea trying to come up with an environment to put those words, through the song.
Musically, it can be unpleasant to listen to, but it has a certain aesthetic that has discombobulation built in. Its only two chords but then there’s the echoing saxophones and these strange sounds with moments of feedback wobbling around.
Rose: I think it was a nice opportunity for Graham to showcase that slightly more muscular quality to his guitar playing, which I don’t think we really explored that much on the first record. I really enjoy the fact that we’ve got to sort of kick a few songs up the ass and there’s a sort of boldness about that which feels exciting.
“I Belong To…”
Rose: This one came out of a little idea I had knocking around, based on a simple double bass string motif. I’ve always liked exploring how much you can pull from the smallest ideas, really milking them for all they’re worth, while being minimal about how you build a song from that starting point. It feels like an interesting challenge to me.
Then Graham added this bassline, which shifted the emphasis to the rhythm and opened everything up. From there, it blossomed into a big chorus, which I think is one of the more romantic songs on the record. I like showing that side of the band, because that’s what we’re doing. I feel it serves as an antidote to some of the edgier, more paranoid elements elsewhere on the album.
Graham: There’s also a sense of a past state of mind, a feeling of being saved, and the gratitude that comes with it. The woodwind parts, which Rose contributed, are really sweet. I like that the song feels open-ended, never directly saying “I belong to you,” which is part of what we’re trying to convey.
Yes, it’s sentimental and romantic, but I don’t mind that… I think I’m like that, and I’m not ashamed of it. Many people see those as negative qualities, but I don’t think they necessarily are. I also love the layering of the guitars, and that nice chorus effect—both on the guitars and in the vocals. I used to hate chorus pedals, but now I’ve found a use for them, and I think they add another modulating sound that complements the vocals. I like how it all comes together and slightly unsettles the listener, in a good way.
“Simple Days”
Rose: I guess the lyrical content captures the liberating simplicity of having a child, where the focus is just keeping them alive. This shift allows you to escape your own concerns and embrace a simpler, smaller world. Graham and I appreciate our unconventional life, like having picnics on a Tuesday, which makes those simple, predictable days feel like treasures. It’s interesting how, as you age, you start valuing these once-taken-for-granted moments.
Graham: I also like the idea of our music being visual, like watercolor landscapes, with guitars sliding around and Rose’s voice fluttering over that background. With a flute or two to push it further.
“Broken Boys”
Rose: We enjoy placing contrasting elements next to each other and doing something unexpected.
Graham: It has a bit of a snarly attitude, which makes me feel somewhat conflicted. It originated from ideas about seedy, dark clubs that are uncomfortable places to be. It’s a bit like City Lights—who’s lurking in the shadows, and people not being upfront about their intentions. There were times I’d toss and turn at 4 a.m., finally formulating a few sentences and writing them down to see how they fit.
Rose: Regarding co-writing lyrics, it’s more of a call-and-response process. We don’t usually discuss themes; someone might come up with a lyric that sparks an idea in the other person, so it’s more about interacting with those ideas.
Graham: I suppose, it reflects the excitement I felt about a certain type of rhythm guitar playing. I love songs that break down to just drums and bass, with synth sounds that seem to free-fall, like melted wax. It’s almost as if the mask is melting away from whoever this person might be. I hadn’t thought of that before. I like how it transitions into frenetic chaos at the end.
“Song for Eliza May”
Rose: It all started when Graham picked up a mandolin, which opened up a new direction for the songs. The mandolin is a folk-rooted, earthy sound which felt like the right choice for a song about our daughter. Graham and I have always tried to represent the moment we’re in, and it seemed impossible to ignore her presence in our work. I wanted to create a gesture for her and hope she’ll appreciate it when she’s older.
Graham: You know, there are moments of foreboding, which inevitably arise when you have kids, and you become more acutely aware that the world isn’t always the best place. I think it was important to incorporate some of that foreboding into the song. The changes in atmosphere are quite interesting in this song, placing mandolins with almost Hendrix-ian guitar solos is quite interesting. I tuned the mandolin to Dead Man’s tuning, similar to open G, which felt comfortable for me. Rose’s sits so nicely with this sound, and the song’s twists and turns make it one of my favourites.
“Druantia”
Rose: It’s kind of its own universe in a way. It all started quite simply with that little drum and bass line you had. And then, I don’t know, it just sort of expanded into this great, mammoth thing.
Graham: Working with Rose is excellent because I can lay down this drum rhythm and a bass line that really isn’t doing much—it just goes from E to A to E to A. But then there’s an organ that Rose adds, which shifts the notes around and opens up the musical situation harmonically, so there are many more possibilities beyond that simple A to E, A to E pattern created at the beginning.
Then there’s the idea of this descending five-note pattern that goes through the chords, creating a series of cycles. It was just an idea that gave us a lot of space to try out various things, like tone clusters and saxophone stabs. These elements seemed to take on their own energy and life, and we couldn’t control it.
Rose: We discussed editing it down with James (Ford), but every time we tried to make a cut, it felt like we lost something. The song needed to evolve constantly, with new instruments and melodic ideas being introduced. So the whole thing built into a form that had to be the way it was.
Graham: I love how the intensity builds. On this album, it’s the track that revisits a bit of the old Greenwood style, but it doesn’t linger there for long.
Rose: Druantia is a nature goddess, so the song explores themes of life and the blood and guts of what that looks like.
Also, giving yourself over to that energy and the idea of portals into the supernatural. It’s about how, in some parts of the countryside at certain times, there are connections between this world and that world. I find that idea interesting, playing with the notion of these portals and the intensity of the song. Although the song may seem almost proggy and a little jazzy, it’s not as geekish as it might sound; it’s quite a bit sexier.
I feel connections through nature really and feel a need for the countryside, which might explain why this song is positioned in the middle of the album. It’s like getting a bit of nourishment from the countryside. Being in or looking out at the countryside definitely lifts my spirits and my soul. However, I didn’t present it as a bucolic paradise; there’s still an idea that you could be overwhelmed by it or be meddling with something you don’t fully understand.
“Girl of the Endless Night”
Graham: I really wanted the vocals to have a gritty, hurdy-gurdy quality. To achieve this, I aimed to create close harmonies, making use of fifths and an almost medieval approach to harmony over the mandolin. The song is about something unattainable, like hidden streams in the woods, but also about finding a kind of sanctuary in the town. It was interesting because structurally, the song goes through many changes.
One inspiration for me was Jack Orion – Pentangle. Certain parts of the song remind me of an amazing piece about a supernatural fiddle player and the power of the fiddle. The story involves the fiddle being used in a terrible way, leading to the player’s head being cut off and stuck on a fence post. I wanted to capture that kind of grit in my voice. The song then transitions into a fluttering, uplifting chorus with Rose’s contribution. She wouldn’t let me stay grumpy for too long and wrote a lovely chorus with strings.
Rose: It feels like the party is over and reflects a transition into a new part of life, which is a relief after spending too long in that zone previously.
“Sunrise”
Rose: I think this is one of my favourites. I feel like it’s one of the best things we’ve made in this band. You started that one.
Graham: I had this little idea that came about because there was a baby on the sofa at 6 a.m. I thought, “How can I entertain this creature?” So, I picked up my guitar and created these chords that I liked. I recorded it on my phone and started to sing a melody, which was kind of directed at how I felt about the baby. Then I decided to bring it into a session. We looked at it and came up with the chords that would become the chorus. Then you sang a melody over it. It happened quite quickly.
Rose: This was one of the only songs for which I didn’t write the score. We were lucky enough to work with the brilliant Elysian Quartet, who are, I think, the best string players around. They’re not like typical session musicians who are rigidly attached to scores. They have so many ideas and are really open to improvisation. It was a revelatory moment in the recording sessions. The song suddenly felt like it was being lifted to a whole other level. I think what Richard Jones (composer) wrote is beautiful; it felt like such a gift. It was like dealing with a wonderfully mad genius.
Graham: At the end, what I love is that all the instruments reach this full tilt. The saxophone is doing one thing, the strings another, and everything is at its peak. After all the ups and downs and paranoia, it feels like we’ve come back to a familiar place and completed the album’s journey. It’s strange because when I first listened to it and thought about running order, I didn’t quite understand what I had heard. I thought I might have to listen to the album again. Then “City Lights” comes in, and it feels like getting ready for early evening. It brings you back to the beginning, almost like coming full circle after a two-hour journey through the countryside. It’s amazing.
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The WAEVE – Live Dates
9/20 – Liverpool, UK @ Rough Trade
9/21 – Nottingham, UK @ Rough Trade (SOLD OUT)
9/23 – Bristol, UK @ Rough Trade (SOLD OUT)
9/24 – London, UK @ Rough Trade East (SOLD OUT)
10/29 – London, UK @ Village Underground (SOLD OUT)