Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett who formed the biggest virtual band in the last decade in 1998 have been hinting at new music throughout 2015. Now, Jamie Hewlett has confirmed that the pair are actually in the process of working and actively recording a new Gorillaz album, which is scheduled to a 2016 release.
“I’m working on it at the moment, and it’s going very well,” he said. “I’m very excited. I don’t want to say too much about it, but I’m at that phase of experimentation. What I try not to do when I’m working in this creative period, the cooking of the mess, is go to other peoples’ exhibitions and look at other peoples’ work".
"I close my eyes, and don’t want to know what anyone else is doing. Doing that has kind of ruined the creative process for me in the past, and I don’t want to let that happen again" he also added.
“That’s next year," he told DIY Mag of the Gorillaz project in a new interview to promote his first art exhibition in London. "I’m working on it at the moment, and it’s going very well. I’m very excited." It's been four years since the group's last release, 2011's The Fall.
So what about the new Gorillaz artwork? Will it be an entirely different style from the old Gorillaz, or will it be similar to the last album's style?
"I don’t want to say too much about it, but I’m at that phase of experimentation," Hewlett said. He also added that he has been posting teasers of the new fictional "members" of Gorillaz on Instagram throughout the year.
Whatever the style of the new Gorillaz, this is absolutely fantastic news for Gorillaz fans, who will be able to look forward to a new world tour and album from one of the most recognised and popular virtual bands of our time.