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Sep 22, 2021 By Mark Redfern Photography by Linda Brownlee

Damon Albarn of Blur and Gorillaz is releasing a new solo album, The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows, on November 12 via Transgressive. Now he has shared its fourth single, “Royal Mountain Blue.” He’s also shared a separate video where he performs the song live with his backing band. Check out both below.

“Royal Mountain Blue” was written and recorded in Iceland. A press release says it was “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 adds: “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.”

Previously Albarn shared the album’s first single, title track “The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows.” Then he shared its second single, “Polaris,” which was one of our Songs of the Week, as well as a live video for the song. Then he shared its third single, the haunted ballad “Particles,” along with a live video for the song. “Particles” was also one of our Songs of the Week.

Albarn’s last solo album was 2014’s Everyday Robots, but since then he’s been busy with a variety of projects. The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows was initially intended to be an orchestral piece inspired by the landscape of Iceland but was reworked into a solo album during the pandemic lockdown. A previous press release said the album explores “themes of fragility, loss, emergence, and rebirth” and that its title is taken from a John Clare poem Love and Memory.

Albarn also 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.”

Damon Albarn UK and European Tour Dates:

2022:

21 & 22 February - London (Barbican)
23 & 24 February - Dublin (National Concert Hall)
26 February - Luxembourg (Philharmonie)
28 February - Brussels (Bozar)
1 March - Brussels (Bozar)
2 March - Eindhoven (Muziekgebouw)
4 & 5 March - Paris (Philharmonie)
6 March - Lyon (Auditorium)
7 March - Hamburg (ElbPhilharmonie)
9 March - Copenhagen (KB Hallen)
11 March - Reykjavik (Harpa)

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