Damon Albarn has revealed what his next project will be following the release of his first solo album, Everyday Robots, this year. And, perhaps to the surprise of a few, it will be a musical.
''It's funny for me to say, 'I'm writing a musical', but yes, that's what I'm doing next," he said in an interview with The Daily Star. "It's something I've always wanted to do, because musicals are great when they're done well. It started out with the same subject matter but was going to be a leftfield, experimental opera. But it's lurched into a mainstream musical for families.''
As Albarn mentioned in his quote, he's written operas before, titled Dr. Dee: An English Opera and Monkey Journey to The West. Most agree that operas tend to be more difficult to write than musicals, hence why Wagner wrote operas and Andrew Lloyd Webber writes musicals (calm down internet, we're only joking). The point is that writing am musical is not that far from Albarn's comfort zone.
Now word on how easy it will be to see the Blur frontman's new project, but NME seemed to imply that the show would be aiming for London's West End, somewhat the British equivalent of Broadway.
Most of Albarn's fans aren't exactly going to be tearing at the bit to see a new "mainstream musical," regardless of who wrote it, so the question remains what he'll do once he gets done promoting his solo work. The performer has given hints that lean toward both of his previously established hit bands.
He told NME that he's "found (myself) writing a lot of uptempo songs that sound like Gorillaz." On the other hand, he also performed the song "Tender" as an encore at his Latitude set, bringing Blur guitarist Graham Coxon onstage to help.
