Only a few years ago the prospect of a new Blur album seemed as likely as a Brit winning the Wimbledon Men’s Singles title. Now that the latter was taken care of on Sunday, Damon Albarn’s interview with the Wall Street Journal suggests that the veterans of Britpop will be recording together after their tours of Europe and South America. This follows similar comments Albarn made to fans at a concert in Hong Kong last month. However, fans might be cautious to wait before they dust off their Fred Perry polo shirts and parka jackets, the ever versatile Albarn has several other projects to finish first.
The opera “Monkey: Journey Into the West” featuring music by Albarn and designs by his Gorillaz collaborator Jamie Hewlett, has just begun a run at New York’s Lincoln Center, after rave reviews back in England. Albarn is also involved with Fresh Touch, a supergroup consisting of Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Fleah, Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Nick Zinner and Alex Kapranos from Franz Ferdinand. A limited edition release, “Latest Style”, will be available on July 13th with proceeds going towards Oxfam’s Syria Crisis Appeal.
Perhaps most intriguing of all, the Blur frontman is to release a solo album in the near future, a project he described to The Wall Street Journal as “quite intimate”. He also plans to tour after the record’s release. Not that the rest of the band have been sitting idly twiddling their thumbs since Blur’s last album release, 2003’s Think Tank. Bassist Alex James is an award winning cheesemaker, drummer Dave Rowntree has stood for political office, while guitarist Graham Coxon has a very successful solo career in his own right. It is any wonder that all four of them were pinned down to tour together this year in the first place. For that enough, fans are grateful.