Damon Albarn The Story Of Blur's New Album

Blur Vocalist Damon Albarn (Instagram @blurofficial)

JAKARTA - Damon Albarn recalls the moment when he first demonstrated a demo for Blur's new album to his bandmates. Albarn admits, initially he just wanted Graham Coxon who was in the studio.

Speaking in a new interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music 1, the singer-songwriter revealed how it felt to reunite with Blur and start working on their new album, The Ballad Of Darren.

Menurut Albarn, dia mulai menulis demo untuk lagu-lagu baru sebelum dia mengumpulkan teman-teman bandnya, tetapi merasa enggan untuk menunjukkan semuanya pada waktu bersamaan.

When I finished this demo and I felt like I got something excited, I took everyone to the studio in January this year. I just sit them down and I said, 'That's right. This is what I have. You choose what you want to use and we move forward from it'," he started as quoted by NME, Monday.

At first, I really didn't want anyone in the studio other than Graham [Coxon] to get started, but the other two personnel said, 'No. We want to stay here if it's okay'... and they do, "he added. "Do you know? It's really the best. It's the best thing... The prize of everyone playing together is one of the things I admit to being the biggest. You have to keep it real.

In the interview, he also explained that the initial reluctance to show all members at once came from him who was used to working "self-isolated" and the idea of working with many people simultaneously was something he was still trying.

Elsewhere, Albarn also reflected on the latest single taken from the upcoming album, the song St. Charles Square, which arrived on June 29 yesterday.

This song has an extraordinary atmosphere. Everyone played very well in that," he said. Everything really feels like we're somewhere in 1992 - something like that, '92, '93. We just got back!

"I've played with them since I was a kid," he added. "So to be able to map the ridiculous journey from a teenager to five years from age 60 is quite... A bit strange but amazing at the same time, It's amazing."

The Ballad Of Darren will be Blur's ninth studio album, and the first full album since The Magic Whip (2015).