Andy Rourke's posthumous album, Blitz Vega's 'Northern Gentleman,' is a soft swan song

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By News Room 6 Min Read


Blitz Vega, the band helmed by The Smiths’ bassist Andy Rourke and Kav Sandhu of Happy Mondays, formed in 2016 and ended when Rourke died from pancreatic cancer in 2023. He was 59. The band’s lone album, “Northern Gentleman,” has finally been released — 10 tracks largely written and recorded before Rourke’s death, the swan song to his impressive career.

For all of the duo’s efforts, however, this is really staid stuff. It borrows some elements from each man’s musical heyday but breathes no new life into their craft. These are arid, rock-by-numbers songs with very little personal illumination to fuel them.

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