Aussie fans may still be smarting from Blur pulling the plug on their first Australian tour in over 15 years but frontman Damon Albarn is charging ahead with his prolific solo career.
While the new Blur album seems to be taking far longer than hoped to complete, the first details of Albarn’s new “folk soul” solo album have emerged.
Entitled Everyday Robots, the new 12-track album is being billed as Albarn’s ‘debut’ solo album, despite the 45-year-old musician having released two releases under his own name previously (in 2003’s Democrazy EP and 2012 opera soundtrack Dr Dee.
Details of Everyday Robots leaked via Warner Music’s webstore, revealing the artwork, tracklist, and details of a deluxe CD/DVD package featuring live performances of the new material upon its release on 28th April. The album’s title track will also be the lead single, released on 3rd March digitally and on 7-inch vinyl, as Pitchfork reports.
UPDATE 21/01: A music video of the full ‘Everyday Robots’ title track has been released (view below).
There’s also a pair of new teasers for the album offering a taste of Damon Albarn’s newest direction (see below), described as a “sort of folk soul” in a Rolling Stone interview from last year, with the Blur/Gorillaz frontman working alongside long-term collaborator and XL Recordings chief, Richard Russell. “Richard does the rhythmic side, and I do everything else,” Albarn explained. Everyday Robots will also be supported by a tour… which will precede a new release from Blur…
Everyday Robots will also be supported by a tour (but don’t hold your breath for an Australian visit), which will precede a new release from Blur – as Albarn has previously detailed – with attendees at this weekend’s Sundance Film Festival getting a solo concert from Damon Albarn, as Consequence Of Sound.
While it seems that the new Blur album is next on Albarn’s to-do list, it’s more than likely that he could be distracted with another side project.
Speaking about his many musical curiosities with Rolling Stone, Albarn said in May: “I get bored extremely easily. Blur was definitely my Nineties, Gorillaz was my 2000s, and then I’ve done a lot of different stuff this decade.”
No kidding, along with the Blur reunion and the now dormant Gorillaz, there’s been The Good, The Bad, And The Queen, Rocket Juice To The Moon, DRC Music, and the one-off group to support Oxfam’s Syria appeal.
Recording with Red Hot Chili Peppers/Atoms For Peace bassist Flea, Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner, Franz Ferdinand frontman Alex Kapranos, and Brian Eno mid-last year, Albarn’s African Express supergroup issued a one-off vinyl release with a full compilation album, titled Africa Express Presents: Maison Des Jeunes, released digitally last month before a physical release is due later this year.
Everyday Robots is out 28th April via XL Recordings.
Everyday Robots Tracklisting:
01 Everyday Robots
02 Hostiles
03 Lonely Press Play
04 Mr. Tembo
05 Parakeet
06 The Selfish Giant
07 You and Me
08 Hollow Ponds
09 Seven High
10 Photographs (You Are Taking Now)
11 The History of a Cheating Heart
12 Heavy Seas of Love
Everyday Robots Deluxe Edition DVD Tracklisting
01 Track x Track Video (Bundle Only)
02 Everyday Robots (Live From Fox Studios Los Angeles)
03 Hostiles (Live From Fox Studios Los Angeles)
04 Lonely Press Play (Live From Fox Studios Los Angeles)
05 Hollow Ponds (Live From Fox Studios Los Angeles)
