Earlier this month, Blur frontman Damon Albarn revealed at a Hong Kong gig that Blur planned to record their first album since 2003’s Think Tank in China. “We have a week in Hong Kong, and we thought it would be a good time to try and record another record,” Albarn said to rousing applause. An interview conducted by Rolling Stone during Coachella last month shed some new light on details regarding Albarn’s solo works and Blur’s upcoming album, which appears to be in the works — even if the recording phase’s location has yet to be determined.
The main nugget from the Rolling Stone interview is that Albarn just finished recording his debut solo album alongside familiar collaborator Richard Russell, head of XL Recordings. Calling the project “sort of folk-soul”, Albarn claims “Richard does the rhythmic side, and I do everything else.” The duo previously worked together on Bobby Womack’s most recent album ‘The Bravest Man in the Universe. Albarn intends to support his solo debut with a coinciding tour, which will feature songs from his entire career; concert-goers can obviously expect songs from Blur and Gorillaz, and perhaps even some from The Good, the Bad & the Queen and his operas.
Touching on the Blur album, Albarn called it “a definite possibility”. “We’ve got a couple of occasions when we’re stuck in the middle of nowhere,” he said. “So we might make the record in a week. If we can, it would be nice.” So while the China recording spot doesn’t seem definitive at all, there remains a good chance that Blur will record their first full-length album in a decade. Albarn’s tireless work ethic will allow it, at least this time. “I get bored extremely easily,” he also said in the interview. “Blur was definitely my ’90s, Gorillaz was my 2000s, and then I’ve done a lot of different stuff this decade.”
MP3: “The Universal“, “You’re So Great“
