Damon Albarn has revealed the first Gorillaz album in six years is a “party record about the world going f***** nuts”.
The Blur frontman said he told everyone involved in Humanz, which is out later this month, to think about their reaction to Donald Trump’s inauguration as US President when working in the album.
The virtual band’s first record since 2011′s The Fall features guest vocals from artists including Grace Jones, Carly Simon, Pusha T, Rag’n'Bone Man and De La Soul.
Describing Humanz, Damon told Q Magazine: “The three tenets for this record were pain, joy, urgency.
“I told everyone to imagine you’re in America after the inauguration and it’s the worst case scenario: how would you feel that night? Let’s make a party record about the world going f****** nuts.”
Fellow Gorillaz creator Jamie Hewlett called Humanz “not a political statement about Trump” but a “world in which he could get elected”.
The duo also opened up about their reconciliation after Jamie dropped out of the pair’s operatic project Dr Dee and moved to Paris with his wife and French actress, Emma de Caunes.
Damon said: “He basically left and I felt upset by that. There was a fallow period in our relationship.
“I get the sense that sometimes people like getting off my steamroller and doing their own thing for a while and then joining me further down the road.”
Jamie said the pair had “locked horns” a few times and he felt he needed to escape.
He added: “We’d lived in each other’s pockets for 10 years.
“Damon’s an artist, he’s one of the few real artists that I know, but that means you can be a little crazy and a little difficult and I can be the same.”
Despite his innovative approach to creating music, Damon revealed he still had not traded in his Nokia mobile phone for a smartphone, but said he had considered joining Twitter recently after one or two drinks.
He told the magazine: “I did get really drunk a few weeks ago and tried to create a Twitter account … I felt I had a lot to say and it was time.”
The full interview is in this month’s Q magazine, out April 11.
