Damon Albarn has never been a man to rest on his laurels and though that new Blur album is taking a lot longer than many fans would be comfortable with, the Britpop icon turned music maverick has found time to put together yet another star-studded supergroup for the sake of charity, reports The Guardian.
Though lacking a snappy name, Albarn’s latest outfit joins his long list of collaboration-heavy bands, including the dormant Gorillaz, The Good, The Bad, and The Queen, Rocket Juice To The Moon, and DRC Music. Further complicating his already convoluted musical CV, Albarn fronts a lineup that features Red Hot Chili Peppers/Atoms For Peace bassist Flea, Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner and Franz Ferdinand frontman Alex Kapranos.
The group were assembled by Fresh Touch, the brainchild of producers Rodaidh McDonald and XL Recordings’ Richard Russell (who’s worked with Albarn previously, including on Bobby Womack’s latest album) and the Albarn-led supergroup will record a special one-off single as part of Oxfam’s Syria appeal.
The single ‘Latest Style’ is one of 10 limited edition vinyl releases that will available exclusively through London’s Independent Label Market, a biannual gathering to showcase boutique releases from indie labels such as XL Recordings, Domino, Fabric, 4AD, Moshi Moshi, and more. “Though lacking a snappy name, Albarn’s latest outfit joins his long list of collaboration-heavy bands.”
All proceeds of ‘Latest Style’, along with the other nine vinyl singles available at this year’s market, taking place on 13th July, will go towards Oxfam’s aiding more than 1.6 million Syrian refugees who have fled as a result of violence afflicting the country.
Other one-offs featured alongside the Albarn/Flea/Franz Ferdinand/Yeah Yeah Yeahs single include releases from Editors, Django Django, Charlie XCX, The Charlatans frontman Tim Burgess, a Four Tet remix of Beth Orton track ‘Carmella’, and more.
The news of the Damon Albarn-led supergroup follows reports that Blur are heading back to the studio to work on the new album, announcing onstage at a concert in Hong Kong that “we thought it would be a good time to try and record another record;” following aborted sessions with William Orbit for the band’s first album since 2003’s Think Tank came to naught.
The Guardian also reports that the new Blur album is taking precedence over any new material from Gorillaz, with co-creator Jamie Hewlett quoted by the British paper as saying that Albarn’s commitments with his first band had put the brakes on a potential reunion from the on/off cartoon group.
“Damon’s touring with Blur,” said Hewlett at the New York launch for Monkey: Journey To The West, the opera he and Albarn created. “He’s doing a world tour with Blur at the moment, and then they’re working on a new album, so there isn’t really time for him, and I’m doing other stuff as well. So I think … we’ll come back to it when the time’s right.”
Even the much-delayed Blur album may have to wait for the release of the frontman’s new solo album, following on from the 2012 opera soundtrack Dr Dee released under Albarn’s own name.
Speaking with The Wall Street Journal in a recent interview, Albarn confirmed the completion of a new solo record without giving a specific release date, but said Blur would continue work in earnest on a new album after its release. “You can hear a lot, what’s going on,” says Albarn, “It’s quite intimate.”
