Blur frontman Damon Albarn began teasing the return of his virtual band Gorillaz in 2014. Then, in summer 2015, he said the group would start recording its follow-up to 2011’s The Fall that September. Now, in a recent interview with BBC Radio 6 Music, Albarn estimates that the record “should be ready fairly soon.” But “soon” is a relative term in cartoon land, as Albarn noted, “Later in the year we’ll be starting to get the whole Gorillaz thing together.”
That quote makes it difficult to discern whether the group has even started making the album, but last spring footage surfaced of Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett in a recording studio. So we’re confident that the album is coming together, and that Albarn is simply terrible at giving updates. Like this one: “I’m loving it, and it’s getting there.” Okay:
For those who live in civilized society and appreciate more specific projections of time, Hewlett said last month that the as-yet-untitled album probably won’t be released until 2017, so you can expect another article next year about Albarn saying something like, “We’re really rounding the bend on that.”