Damon's Massive contribution

MASSIVE ATTACK's fourth studio album could feature two tracks that the band collaborated on with BLUR frontman DAMON ALBARN, NME.COM can reveal.

The Bristol trip-hoppers have a total of 85 possible tracks for the as-yet-untitled album, and in this week's NME, on sale throughout the UK today (January 10), Robert '3D' Del Naja said they were working on 15 of those "more seriously" than the others.

He said: "It sounds ridiculous, but that's the way we work. There's about 20 tracks knocking around and I think 15 of those that we're taking more seriously than others. Elizabeth Fraser's (former Cocteau Twin and frequent collaborator) been working with us again, of course, and myself and Grant ('Daddy G') Marshall have been working on vocals... We've been looking at another couple of people, but I don't know if we want to have too many voices on the album... We might want to simplify it this time." "The idea is it will tell a story, but there will be more up and down, with a greater contrast between the tracks themselves."

But he added that Damon is unlikely to appear as a guest vocalist. "He's got a lot on his plate at the moment and I think he liked the idea of writing something for someone else... The last two Blur albums have been brilliant, really interesting. It's not so much a musical crossover, but there's that willingness to experiment... that's what I've got in common with all the bands I respect - with Prodigy, with Blur, with Radiohead. They're never going to be satisfied staying where they are, they're always going to be pushing themselves."

The album is due for release in the summer. Del Naja said last year that he wanted to hold back on releasing new material because of the "piss poor" state of the UK music scene.

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