News - Damon Albarn

Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows is the catchy title for the second full-length solo album from Damon Albarn, released today by Transgressive Records. Listen to Royal Morning Blue...

Press Release

The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows was originally intended as an orchestral piece inspired by the landscapes of Iceland. This last year has seen Albarn return to the music in lockdown and develop the work to 11 tracks which further explore themes of fragility, loss, emergence and rebirth. The result is a panoramic collection of songs with Albarn as a storyteller. The album title is taken from a John Clare poem Love and Memory.

Albarn said, "I have been on my own dark journey while making this record and it led me to believe that a pure source might still exist."

In a career of perpetual musical shifts and exploration, the record uncovers yet more ground, finding expansive orchestral arrangements nestling with intimate melodies, discordance brushing up against infectious majesty, all set to some of Albarn’s most arresting vocal performances to date. Much like the beauty and chaos of the natural world it soundtracks, The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows vividly documents the emotional ebb and flow of the human condition, in all its extremes, serving as a soul-enriching document for our times.

Royal Morning Blue is the latest track from the album and was written and recorded in Iceland. Directly inspired by the view from Albarn’s position at the piano looking out over the sea, it captures the wonder of rain turning into snow before his eyes.

Albarn said “That’s why the song opens with ‘Rain turning into snow,’ because it’s that moment, that feeling. In all the darkness that we have experienced, that was such a beautiful, positive thing.”

Here's the video.



The tracklisting for The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows is:

The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows
The Cormorant
Royal Morning Blue
Combustion
Daft Wader
Darkness To Light
Esja
The Tower Of Montevideo
Giraffe Trumpet Sea
Polaris
Particles

The CD format also includes a new 20-min hidden track called Huldufólk written by Albarn and Einar Örn Benediktsson (The Sugarcubes).

Image - Amazon