Blur Might Be Planning To 'Wrap Up' Again

Blur and Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn may be ready to say goodbye to the former band again, saying, “It’s too much for me” in a recent interview.

Earlier this year, Albarn and his Blur bandmates Graham Coxon, Alex James and Dave Rowntree released their new album, The Ballad Of Darren, eight years after 2015’s The Magic Whip. And while fans might have thought that the English band is ready to stay around, Albarn says that may not be true.

“It is time to wrap up this campaign. It’s too much for me,” Albarn told French publication Les Inrockuptibles, per Far Out Magazine. “It was the right thing to do and an immense honour to play these songs again, spend time with these guys, make an album, blah-blah-blah.”

He continued, “I’m not saying I won’t do it again; it was a beautiful success, but I’m not dwelling on the past.”

Instead, Albarn is looking at stranger projects, including an “opera which will be presented in Paris next year” and studio time in India with Gorillaz bandmate Jamie Hewlett.

Blur’s new album, The Ballad Of Darren, was released in July and was preceded by the single The Narcissist, a trip through beautiful melancholy music that showcases Blur at their most tender.

“This is an aftershock record, reflection and comment on where we find ourselves now,” Albarn said about the James Ford (Depeche Mode, Kylie Minogue, Florence + The Machine) produced album.

Graham Coxon added, “The older and madder we get, it becomes more essential that what we play is loaded with the right emotion and intention. Sometimes, just a riff doesn’t do the job.”

Alex James also weighed in on the narrative, with the bassist adding that “for any long-term relationship to last with any meaning, you have to be able to surprise each other somehow, and somehow we all continue to do that.” Drummer Dave Rowntree agreed, rounding out the collective statement: “It always feels very natural to make music together. With every record we do, the process reveals something new, and we develop as a band. We don’t take that for granted.” 

Blur returned to Australia in 2015 (Gorillaz toured here last year) and performed in Perth for the first time since the 90s. In a The Music review of the band’s show in Perth, we concluded that the band put on an “outstanding show”.