The Line-up Well, it’s Graham Coxon - he does it all. However, on The Kiss Of Morning, he was backed up by Louis Vause (Piano, Fender Rhodes and Hammond) and BJ Cole (Pedal Steel).

The History Graham began his rise to fame in a band called Blur, formed with an old Colchester schoolmate Damon Albarn and two people he met while studying at Goldsmith’s College in London, Alex James and Dave Rowntree. The band achieved moderate success and some of you may even have heard a couple of their songs.

In 1998, Coxon released his debut solo album, The Sky Is Too High, through his own Transcopic label. The rough and genre-spanning songs featured on that album displayed a talent for songwriting that had only been hinted at in Blur (and they did write a few good tunes too) and a huge knowledge of music - shown not least on the perfect emulation of early blues recordings on Mornin Blues .

He followed up this debut in 2000 with The Golden D. This album was similarly diverse but this time took in Graham’s love of skatepunk, US hardcore and modern jazz, which left many confused. A year later came Crow Sit On Blood Tree, which was written, recorded, produced, mixed, mastered and had cover art designed in just two weeks (all by Coxon himself).

Coxon’s highest acclaim so far has been for his forth solo album, The Kiss Of Morning, which came in 2002. Recorded and mixed over two weeks on vintage equipment (see, it’s not just The White Stripes) and with the additional musical abilities of Louis Vause and BJ Cole, this album seemed more rounded and focussed than previous works (though that may not exactly be the case).

2004 brought Coxon’s 5th solo album, Happiness In Magazines, believed by many to be his best work.

The Sound Graham Coxon’s songs are identifiable mainly by his very distinct voice. The sound is often quite rough but he never holds himself to a genre. Mainly he just seems to be trying things out to see if he can do them. And he can. All of them. If you can find a genre from the history of guitar-based music that he hasn’t had a crack at, then you should probably get out more.

Other Items Of Interest Some time after the release of The Kiss Of Morning, Coxon began work on Blur’s 2003 album Think Tank but left the band shortly into the recording, confusing everyone with the quote, “Yes. No, I’m not out of Blur. But I’m not in Blur. I’m not lying to you. But I’m not necessarily telling the truth”. Speaking to Teletext’s music section Planet Sound after the release of Think Tank he said, “I think it’s under-developed and tech-y. I’m very glad I’m not in Blur after hearing it. Will I ever rejoin? Definitely not, no, never.”

IF Recommends The Sky Is Too High (Buy it at Amazon) | The Golden D (Buy it at Amazon) | The Kiss Of Morning (Buy it at Amazon)

Websites www.transcopic.com