The Waeve - The Waeve (2LP) - Green Transparent Vinyl

The Waeve’s self-titled debut feels like a secret that two music lifers decided to share. Graham Coxon and Rose Elinor Dougall started this project quietly, then let it bloom into a full-bodied art rock record released on 3 February 2023 through Transgressive Records. That pairing makes immediate sense. Coxon, the ever-restless guitarist from Blur who also loves woodwinds and off-kilter rhythms, and Dougall, whose voice and songwriting have moved from indie pop to elegant, spectral balladry, meet in the middle with a set that leans into British folk, jazz shades, and a stately kind of psychedelia.

You can hear the duo’s method right away. These songs don’t rush. They swell and recede like tides, with Coxon’s baritone sax and jagged guitar hugging Dougall’s keys and voice, and vice versa. James Ford produced the album, and you can tell by the way the drums sit and the synths glow without smothering anything. The single Can I Call You is the gateway, a moody invitation that coils around a steady pulse and a sax figure that feels both urban and windswept. Drowning pushes deeper, with Dougall riding a dark current while the arrangement layers reeds, guitar, and low-end in patient steps. It is not showy. It is immersive.

If you have a soft spot for the Canterbury scene or the odd corners of British folk, there is a lot to love here. The woodwinds are not just texture. They carry melody and counter-melody the way a second lead singer would. Coxon has flirted with this palette before, but The Waeve lets him stretch, not just as a guitarist but as a reed player who understands space. Dougall’s writing and vocal phrasing give these songs nerve and grace. She can sound steely without losing warmth, which keeps the record from tipping into museum-piece prog. When the organ breathes and the guitars scrape against a motorik groove, it lands closer to Broadcast and Robert Wyatt than to revivalism.

Lyrically, the album circles Englishness with clear eyes. Rivers, coastlines, economies in flux, a sense of home that is troubled and tender at once. It never turns into a civics lecture. It’s more about feeling the ground under your feet, then noticing how it shifts. The arrangements mirror that idea. A track will open with pastoral quiet, then let a drum pattern and baritone sax drag a storm across the field. Out of that, Dougall finds a line that sticks in your head for days. The pacing invites full play-throughs, which is where The Waeve really reveals itself. Heard end to end, it’s a tide chart.

Reception was strong across the board. UK outlets like The Guardian and NME praised the duo’s chemistry and the album’s unhurried confidence, while US critics noted how it reframed Coxon outside the Blur lens and put Dougall’s range front and center. That feels right. The Waeve is a conversation between two artists who trust each other, and that trust reads as calm, even when the music gets stormy. No surprise the songs landed well on stage, where those sax and organ lines can snake and expand.

If you collect modern British art rock on wax, this is a keeper. The Waeve vinyl pressing gives the low reeds and drum tones the room they deserve, and the sequencing pays off when you flip sides and let the second half unspool. While digging through a Melbourne record store I clocked how often shoppers asked for The Waeve albums on vinyl, which tells you the word of mouth is healthy. If you want to buy The Waeve records online, it’s easy to find through shops that specialize in new releases and import stock, including stores that ship vinyl records Australia wide.

There is a quiet thrill in hearing familiar voices find a new shape together. The Waeve is not about grand gestures. It is about tone, arrangement, trust, and an ear for how English folk roots can live inside a modern band without quotation marks. Put it on, let the river imagery carry you, and notice how the sax sneaks up as the record’s secret narrator. However you file it next to your other The Waeve vinyl, or your Blur and Rose Elinor Dougall records, this one earns its spot by being sturdy and strange in the best way.