Blur Reveal Details Of New Album, First In 12 Years

In a streamed chat with BBC radio DJ Zane Lowe, frontman Damon Albarn revealed that the album was recorded in Hong Kong after one of the band’s gigs had been cancelled. “We didn’t have much, it was like back when we first started recording stuff,” he said.

The announcement of the album comes as a surprise to many, even after Blur had briefly reformed to play shows around the world, including a cancelled appearance at the 2014 Big Day Out. In the interview Albarn said, “There were very mixed emotions for me. I really felt at the end of the last gigs we did, that that was it; that was the end. Not for any heavy reason, [but] it had run its course. There’s no way we could do another gig without a new record.”

Luckily for Blur fans everywhere, that isn’t true. The Magic Whip’s album cover shows the influence of the album being recorded in Hong Kong, and the new video features more Asian imagery.

The Magic Whiptrack list:

1. Lonesome Street
2. New World Towers
3. Go Out
4. Ice Cream Man
5. Thought I Was A Space Man
6. I Broadcast
7. My Terracotta Heart
8. There Are Too Many of Us
9. Ghost Ship
10. Pyongyang
11. Ong Ong
12. Mirror Ball