The creative force behind the animated band introduced a brace of world exclusives
Tonight (23 March), Damon Albarn appeared on Mistajam’s BBC Radio 1 show to premiere two brand new tracks The first, which was given the show’s Hottest Record in the World Right Now accolade, featured D.R.A.M and is called Andromeda. The name, Albarn explained, is a reference to Colchester soul club Andromeda.
The second track was Saturnz Barz featuring dancehall artist Popcaan.
These first plays came just hours after four songs were teased on music streaming service Tidal, two of which remain under wraps: Ascensions featuring Vince Staples and We Got The Power featuring Savages’ Jehnny Beth. All of them are taken from forthcoming album, Humanz, the band’s first full-length since 2011’s The Fall. The first, Hallelujah Money, arrived in January.
Describing Humanz, Albarn offered, “It’s a club record. But it’s got this weird darkness about it.” He also gave some insight into the genesis of the new record: “The album came from this dark fantasy which came into my head at the beginning of last year: just imagine the weirdest, unpredictable thing happening…”
“I suppose we were imagining the idea of Donald Trump,” Albarn continued. “Unfortunately it became the reality.”
You will be able to listen to the interview via iPlayer later this evening. For now, you can watch part of the interview, below.
.@Gorillaz ft @bigbabydram ‘Andromeda’ @MistaJam‘s #HottestRecord 🔥 “That was our dark fantasy” 👀 https://t.co/j5avWmR21T pic.twitter.com/HtAG8FdVr4
— BBC Radio 1 (@BBCR1) March 23, 2017
On 10 June, the band will be headlining their own festival Demon Dayz, which takes place at Margate’s Dreamland. All tickets have sold out.
Update: You can listen to the entire interview now via iPlayer.
