DAMON Albarn likes to blur the margins, slinking away from the pin-up stardom of Blur for the music to be the thing.

His first moon-lit flit, Gorillaz, hid behind Japanese cartoons; then he buried his involvement in the world music collaboration with Toumani Diabate under the moniker of Mali Music, and his latest band technically has no name at all.

Except that it has some very impressive names: not only Albarn but also veteran Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen from Nigeria; bass player Paul Simonon from the hipper than ever The Clash and guitarist Simon Tong, once of The Verve.

Nevertheless, brand names give way to an all-embracing concept album, The Good, The Bad & The Queen, a state-of-the-nation address scripted by Albarn, whose doomy, dark reflections on England hark back to both Modern Life Is Rubbish and The Great Escape. Musically, meanwhile, the slow-coiling melodies and enervated singing are Blur's Parklife refracted through The Specials' Ghost Town.

Albarn's mournful, monotone vocals are the one constant, yet while they evoke English decline and decay, they fail to embed themselves in the ever-evolving patina of spooky keyboards and synths, rhythmic drums and bass and skeletal guitar, adorned with occasional strings and choral singing.

So, aside from the closing title track where the band finally cuts loose and the kitchen sink shows up, too many of these ambling sketches engage with the head but not the heart, although Danger Mouse's tri-hop production skills perfectly fit the woozy, dreamy twists on classic psychedelia, urban folk and end-of-pier music hall.

There are no grandstanding political statements from Albarn as he approaches 40 next year, more a sense of quiet disquiet from observing modern life through a London haze.

The Good, The Bad & The Queen play Leeds Irish Centre on Monday.

  • The Press has five The Good, The Bad & The Queen CDs to be won, courtesy of Honest Jon's/Parlophone.

Question: Who is the drummer in Damon Albarn's new band?

Send your answer with your name and address, on a postcard, to Charles Hutchinson, The Good Competition, The Press, 76-86 Walmgate, York, YO1 9YN, by next Friday. Usual competition rules apply.