As previously reported, Blur unveiled two new tracks overnight in a special live twitter concert streamed worldwide from “somewhere in London, on a rooftop” according to band bassist Alex James.
Performing their new material live for the first time, Blur played their new double A-side single of “The Puritan” and “Under The Westway”. Both songs were written specifically for the band’s huge upcoming London concert on August 12, bandleader Damon Albarn telling NME “I wrote these songs for Hyde Park and I’m really excited about getting out there and playing them for people.”
News of the singles first broke via a couple of teasing images that begun springing up on the band’s social media pages, and then a video narrated by James explaining that the quartet would be “performing both songs live for the first time on Twitter. Which is the first time anything like that’s happened.”
James also described how “both tracks show completely different sides of Blur,” calling “The Puritan” “a big and bouncy, up and at ‘em, sing-a-long special” while describing “Under The West Way” as a “hymn.”
The two songs will also be included in a career-spanning setlist that’s promised for their Hyde Park blow-out, which along with Albarn’s previous comments that their performance may be their last; still leaves a large question mark hanging over the future of the band. It’s worth noting that the Alex James-annotated promo video finishes with a typically cryptic message, remarking of the Hyde Park blow-out, “who knows if this will ever happen again… or if it’s the start of a new chapter.”
“The Puritan” and “Under The Westway” will be released as a limited edition 7” single through Parlaphone in the lead-up to their Hyde Park concert, and that’s in addition to the exhaustive boxset to be released at the end of July to celebrate the band’s 21st birthday called, appropriately, 21.
A comprehensive set that bundles all seven of the band’s studio albums with a wealth of unreleased material across seven CDs, four discs of rarities, three DVDs, a special collector’s edition book and a very limited 7” single. All remastered and re-released in collaboration with longtime-collaborator and producer Stephen Street.
Have a listen to the two new Blur singles below:
