Damon Albarn Hints At New Gorillaz Album in 2016

October 20th, 2014

Ryan Kappy

Damon Albarn has been busy this year promoting his debut solo album, Everyday Robots, which was met with high praise upon release. This means he is keeping the status of famed UK rock outfit Blur under wraps, where he serves as frontman for the band. Most recently though, he came out of the clouds with another project that could once again see the light of day: The virtual cartoon band we know as Gorillaz.

According to Albarn in an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald, he has stated that he is in the “process of reactivating” the virtual four-piece. If this is to be true, this would be the first full-length record that Albarn and co-creator Jamie Hewlett have collaborated on since their last album, The Fall, which came out in 2011. Rumors had it that there was a creative difference between the two for years but that as early as last year, Hewlett had told Consequence of Sound this quote regarding the band:

“Well, of course, I believe there is a future for the Gorillaz. But Gorillaz is quite a complicated and expensive thing to produce. So, I think we need to wait a little bit to see what happens because usually in the music industry everything changes. And Damon’s got a bunch of other things going on. We usually have a break for a few years in between each album anyway just to go off to do other stuff because it’s quite intensive when you do one of those albums. I’m usually doing things for a few years nonstop, so it’s good to go away, stop, and do other stuff. But it also just depends. There needs to be a really smart idea behind each album, and we need to stay inspired. I think it’s really more collective but not alone.”

Stay close with UTG as more updates develop within the Gorillaz camp.