Damon Albarn Is Releasing A New Solo Album, ‘The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows’

It was announced a few days ago that Damon Albarn had signed a new record deal with Transgressive Records. At the time of the announcement, the label noted, “Damon has recently put the finishing touches to his much-anticipated, second solo album, full details for which will be released soon.” Now, said details have been released: The Gorillaz leader’s upcoming solo album is titled The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows, and it’s set for release on November 12. Albarn also shared the album’s title track, a meditative and ambient-inspired (but not instrumental) number

Albarn told NME of the project:

“[Iceland] is a nice place to meditate on the elements and particles. I’d been dreaming on making music while looking out of that window, when my friend from the Lyon Festival offered me the very tempting proposition of ‘You can do whatever you want.’ I had immediately had something that I never thought would be feasible, so I organized musicians, string players, three bass trombones, some percussion, and keyboards into an interesting arrangement.

I took some of these real-time, extreme elemental experiences [of Iceland] and then tried to develop more formal pop songs with that as my source. I wanted to see where that would take me. Sometimes it took me down to Uruguay and Montevideo. Other times I went to Iran, Iceland, or Devon. With travel being curtailed, it was kind of nice to be able to make a record that put me strangely in those places for a moment or two.”

Listen to “The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows” above, and find the The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows art and tracklist below, as well as Albarn’s upcoming tour dates.

1. “The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows”
2. “The Cormorant”
3. “Royal Morning Blue”
4. “Combustion”
5. “Daft Wader”
6. “Darkness To Light”
7. “Esja”
8. “The Tower Of Montevideo”
9. “Giraffe Trumpet Sea”
10. “Polaris”
11. “Particles”

02/21-22/2022 — London, UK @ Barbican
02/23-24/2022 — Dublin, IR @ National Concert Hall
02/26/2022 — Luxembourg, DE @ Philharmonie
02/28/2022 — Brussels, BL @ Bozar
03/01/2022 — Brussels, BL @ Bozar
03/02/2022 — Eindhoven, ND @ Muziekgebouw
03/04-05/2022 — Paris, FR @ Philharmonie
03/06/2022 — Lyon, FR @ Auditorium
03/07/2022 — Hamburg, DE @ ElbPhilharmonie
03/09/2022 — Copenhagen, DK @ KB Hallen
03/11/2022 — Reykjavik, IS @ Harpa

The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows is out 11/12 via Transgressive Records. Pre-order it here.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.