Blur will return on April 27th with The Magic Whip, the band’s first new album in 12 years. The Magic Whip marks the band’s eighth album to date and first since 2003’s Think Tank. The first single “Go Out” is streaming below.
Additionally, Blur will reunite for a performance at London’s Hyde Park on June 20th as part of the British Summer Time festival.
As recently as July 2014, Albarn downplayed the prospects of a new Blur album, explaining that a recording session in Hong Kong ended prematurely due to the studio being too hot. “Sometimes, if you can’t do it all at once, it dissipates really and I don’t know what I’d sing about now with that record,” Albarn explained at the time. “There’s some great tunes on there, but it may just be one of those records that never comes out.”
However, as the band revealed during a press conference in London today, when they revisited the recordings, they sounded better than expected. While Albarn toured in support of his solo album, guitarist Graham Coxon took the recordings to producer Stephen Street, who encouraged the band to finish the album. Albarn and Coxon then reconvened in Hong Kong during Christmastime so that Albarn could flesh out the lyrics.
The news is especially surprising given Damon Albarn’s recent proclamation that he was “in the process of reactivating” Gorillaz for a new studio album in 2016.
Magic Whip Artwork:
Magic Whip Tracklist:
01. Lonesome Street
02. New World Towers
03. Go Out
04. Ice Cream Man
05. Thought I Was A Spaceman
06. I Broadcast
07. My Terracotta Heart
08. There Are Too Many Of Us
09. Ghost Ship
10. Pyongyang
11. Ong Ong
12. Mirrorball
