Ground breaking cartoon group Gorillaz could be set to return soon, with the news that Damon Albarn has written several new songs.
Gorillaz began life as a collaboration between Blur singer Damon Albarn and his flat mate Jamie Hewlett. Hewlett is a celebrated illustrator, and worked on the cult comic book series Tank Girl before turning his attention to Gorillaz.
A sublime mixture of hip hop and pop, the band’s debut album was released in 2001 to great acclaim. Nominated for the Mercury Music Prize it was withdrawn at Albarn’s own request, and no subsequent release by the group has been put forward to the judging panel.
The band released their second studio album ‘Demon Days’ in 2005. Spawning the hits single ‘Feel Good Inc’ and ‘Dare’ it was a hugely ambitious effort that even included a spoken word contribution from Dennis Hopper.
Since then Albarn and Hewlett have worked together on a spectacular opera project. Featuring a lavish stage setting ‘Monkey: Journey To The West’ was a massive success, and ranks as one of the most unusual pop star diversions to come our way in some time. At least until The Knife premiere their own opera, anyway.
However in a new interview Blur manager Chris Morrison has revealed that Damon Albarn has begun writing Gorillaz new album. In spite of the distraction of the Blur reunion the songwriter has been able to get down an enormous amount of material, which he is in the process of editing down.
Morrison told BBC 6Music that Albarn has “got a plethora of tracks at the moment. Whether they all make the light of day or get refined and come down to a normal amount you get on a record of 10 to 15 tracks, I cant tell at this point in time. It’s far too early in the stage of what we are doing.”
However the manager refused to be drawn on when fans could expect the album to be released. “The plan for the new Gorillaz album is we’ll wait until Damon’s finished recording it.”
“The thing is, it’s formulating at the moment and it’s going to be out in about a year’s time. I hope. I’m probably pre-empting something I’ll get shouted at for!”
