stories from the city; damon albarn

1999

1999 was the year that Blur's album 13 came out. A product of lost love and feelings that hadn't been reciprocated in years, experimentation and a band still trying to find themselves despite nearly ten years of trying. 13 was an ode to songwriting and a tell tale sign of Damon Albarn in his prime. Justine Frischmann is of course, the subject. But there are a few tracks that hint that the focus lies elsewhere and not only on Albarn's lost love.

Tender, is the song that resonates with the friends and family of Blur.

Justine Frischmann cries when she hears it for the first time.

Ewan McGregor buys the album on vinyl as a surprise for his wife.

They dance to Tender. He sings it as a lullaby to their two daughters.

They aren't aware of their father and mothers connection to the band, nor the singer and writer. They don't know that part of their mother is what helped the singer write it.

Neither does Chloe Erlich. Or Ewan McGregor for that matter.

Chloe loves the album. It's all she plays in the house. As most of it is child friendly. Even more so, she doesn't care. Music doesn't have boundaries. Besides, with a two year old and a baby, they aren't really paying attention to the music their mum puts on.

Ewan McGregor finds that Star Wars has in fact paid off, and now finds himself preparing to film the next one in the series, happy to get an even bigger paycheck than he received before. He's currently spent most of the year in his London home with his wife and kids.

He's cursed at a few paps because they're irritating the shit out of him. He chased one down the street for following him and his daughter on a walk around the block. He's tempted to bunch them.

But, he's got a wife to do that.

She's more keen on yelling at them than he is, or taking photos of them. Since she is a photographer and all.

In fact- Chloe's published another book, this one focusing on concert photography and her favorite parts of it. She's moved onto taking more photoshoots these days. She likes the props and extravagance of them all. Chloe doesn't understand why she hated it at first. It's fun.

Damon's also had a kid, coming back to the topic of children. He and Susie do. Her name is Missy. She's never met the McGregor-Erlich kids, and probably won't unless she seeks them out.

Chloe sent Damon a congratulations card, both on the album and for the birth of his child.

He didn't exactly respond.

He kept the letter though, keeps it stashed in his drawer, where he keeps all his lighters that he's collected over the years. It's special. Damon wonders if he knows which tracks Chloe sparked.

He wonders if Maxis knows.

Or anyone.

He wonders how Justine feels about No Distance Left to Run.

Well- he actually knows that one. He knows she doesn't quite care and will play it off as such if asked about it. But other than that he keeps no contact with her. She asked for it to be that way. One time he asked Brett Hansen how she was doing and he went pale.

Straight up ignored the question.

Right.

1999 was the year Ewan McGregor entered Hollywood for good, cementing his status as one of the few indie film actors of Britain to actually maintain relevancy past the 90's, the year that Damon Albarn proved he was an undeniably talented songwriter, and that Blur could in fact be a universal band.