Albarn's 'proper' record

Damon's new music expected in July

Damon Albarn has revealed his next album will feature over 100 musicians and he hopes it will be out in July.

He told the BBC: “I’m finishing off a record at the moment which should be out quite soon.

“This one’s got about 80 or 90 musicians on it – something in that region. It’s got a 100 piece Chinese choir on one of the tunes, so that plus the orchestra probably goes to about 120 or 130 people.”

Title?

But Damon was typically vague when it came to any more details, including whether it had a title: “Not really - I haven’t decided on that.

“There’s a monkey or two in there at least – bit like Gorillaz as well. It’s not an opera, it’s a proper record. And it's all in Mandarin I can tell you that for sure!”

He went on: “I just kind of put all my passion into what I’m doing at that moment.

"It’s nice that things kind of stick around a while so it gives the impression that there are lots of things but I do one thing at a time generally. I have only two arms, two legs. 

"I’m really excited about it. It won’t be long, probably by July.”

The Good, The Bad and The Queen's future

Damon also talked about the future of The Good, The Bad and The Queen.

It was believed the group only planned to release one album and their appearance at the recent Love Music Hate Racism show was a final one-off show.

But Damon squashed these rumours: “There are lots of musicians around. We’ve got a lot of musicians that we play with and work with so I don’t really like to say this is this, and that is that.

“I just think no, it’s not the end of these great musicians collaborating together.”

Why Love Music Hate Racism

Damon explained why he wanted to be involved with the Love Music Hate Racism event: “Well, partly my debt to the original Rock Against Racism movement – I think a lot of what informed me came out of that time so for me it’s interesting to see where it is now.

“You could just see by the physical mix that things have genuinely changed and we have other issues now. And maybe the emphasis has changed and there’s more on violence.

“I think the mix of musicians from the young to much older, and I’m sort of in the middle, just shows that it’s a very cohesive force – music.

“And it’s great that London can hold gigs like this and thank goodness the sun came out!”

Kelly Stooke

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