Britpop legends Blur surprised their fans by announcing the release of a brand new album, entitled “The Magic Whip”, twelve years after their last discography material. Set to release April 28th, the 12-track album is said to be heavily inspired by Hong Kong, where it was originally recorded during 5 days in 2013, so it’s only fitting that the announcement took place on Chinese New Year. In fact, the band dropped the news during an interview with BBC Radio 1’s DJ Zane Lowe, the conversation taking place in a Chinese Restaurant in SOHO, London.
Not only is “The Magic Whip” their first album since 2003’s “Think Tank”, but also the first one after reuniting with guitarist Graham Coxon. Along with the LP announcement, the band also released the video for their new single, “Go Out”, and revealed the album artwork, both clearly in tune with the Chinese theme the artists chose to tap into. The secrecy of the record took the pressure off the band members, and frontman Damon Albarn stated that the process of creating and recording “The Magic Whip” has been “natural and spontaneous”, as opposed to what might have happened if they had publically announced a comeback single.
The video, as well as the artwork are signed by Tony Hung, and the album was made in collaboration with producer Stephen Street, who had previously worked with the band on records between 1993’s “Modern Life is a Rubbish” and 1997’s self-titled material.
Blur also announced that they will be headlining BST Hyde Park on the 20th of June 2015. With all this exciting news, we can only hope that Blur will keep on delivering great quality music, as they have since their debut, back in ’89. Until then, check out the tracklist for “The Magic Whip”:
1. Lonesome Street
2. New World Towers
3. Go Out
4. Ice Cream Man
5. Thought I Was a Space Man
6. I Broadcast
7. My Terracotta Heart
8. There Are Too Many of Us
9. Ghost Ship
10. Pyongyang
11. Ong Ong
12. Mirror Ball