(Raffaella Mezzanzanica)
The world we are living in is in constant evolution and, after the last two years spent in the midst of a pandemic and the current geopolitical situation in Ukraine, not always for the better.
The world changes at a speed which was completely unimaginable only few years ago and for this reason even art – with no exception for music – has to adapt often in radical ways.
Damon Albarn is one those artists who has created his own artistic world and has managed to transform his own approach to music in the course of the years.
To many people, Damon Albarn is and will always remain associated to Blur, the iconic Brit pop band whose successes include Country House, Park life, The Universal, Coffee and TV and, of course, Song 2.
He is also recognized as for being a fashion icon of the ‘90s, a decade where the Brit pop guys – mainly Blur and their rivals, Oasis – brought casual style to the masses.
Since then, Damon Albarn has progressively moved from one project to the other, always keeping up with the times and even looking further. In fact, in 1998 he formed the virtual band Gorillaz where he explored genres like electronic, hip hop, and world music, which are totally apart from Brit Pop. Their latest album – Song Machine Season One: Strange Timez – was published in 2020 and, due to the delays caused by the pandemic, the promotional tour had to be postponed.
In 2006, he started working with Paul Simonon Simon Tong and Tony Allen in a band called The Good, The Bad & The Queen.
Damon Albarn has also built a strong solo careers during the years. In 2002, he released the album Mali Music, recorded in Mali during his trip to support Oxfam.
He also collaborated with Tony Allen on different projects, not only for The Good, The Bad & The Queen. For example, in 2014 he appeared in Go Back, a song included in Allen’s album Film of Life.
On November 17, 2021 Damon Albarn published his third solo album, The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows (https://bit.ly/3vsC0w2 – Italian only).
“Originally intended as an orchestral piece inspired by the landscapes of Iceland, this last year has seen a return to the music in lockdown and develop the work to 11 tracks. Further exploring themes of fragility, loss, emergence and rebirth.” – Damon Albarn.
The tour to promote the album was postponed to 2022 due to the lockdown. It started with two dates at Barbican London and then, on February 26 at Philarmonie Luxembourg.
The atmosphere at the Philarmonie is very relaxed. You can see and feel that there are many fans, many people who have been following Damon Albarn during his whole career and they cannot wait to see him playing his new songs live.
The string quartet is the first to enter the stage, followed by the other musicians (Simon Tong, guitar, Seye Adelakan, bass, Mike Smith, keyboards, saxophones, Deb Rochford, drums, percussions).
And then, there he is: Damon Albarn. He wears a large shirt, large trousers and sneakers. He looks at the audience for a few seconds and then he sits at the piano.
The concert starts with The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows, the song that gives the album its name. As soon as the musicians start playing and he starts singing the audience is totally raptured.
The songs flow one after the other, like a unique piece, like the flow of a river.
He does not say a word. He does not have to. The music speaks for himself. The lyrics speak for himself. The atmosphere he creates speaks for himself.
There is nothing on the stage except the musicians and their instruments but this is all the audience needs.
One of the last songs of the show is Polaris – official live video of the song below – the second single extracted from his latest album and which is a hymn to positivity. Through this song we can definitely recognize Damon Albarn’s many facets.
It is time for the encore, and Albarn chooses to perform The Bollocked Man, Island, then he leaves the audience with Out of Time, a Blur song taken from Think Tank, their seventh album, published in 2003.
It is true. Many people will always think about Damon Albarn as the young guy who got fame with Blur and will always associate him to Song 2, a song which defined a part of his career and maybe his whole life as a musician.
Thinking about Damon Albarn has an artist seated at a piano, composing such lyrical and introspective music inspired by the landscapes of Iceland as much as from the lockdown is mostly impossible. Unless you listen to The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows or unless you have the chance to attend his concert.
There he his. Of course, he is not the guy in a Kappa jumpsuit anymore. He is a mature man who has found the many faces of music and he has decided to explore them all.
Setlist:
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
Encore:
The Bollocked Man
Island
Out of Time (Blur song)
Damon Albarn – vocals, piano, composition
Mike Smith – keyboards, saxophone
Simon Tong – guitar
Seye Adelekan – bass
Seb Rochford – drums, percussion
Damon Strings
Sarah Tuke, Kotono Sato – violin
Ciara Ismail – viola
Isabelle Dunn – cello
