Damon Albarn continues to trickle out tracks from his forthcoming solo album The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows. There has been the title track, "Polaris," "Particles," and now "Royal Morning Blue."
A press release explains that the new album was originally intended as an orchestral piece inspired by the landscapes of Iceland, but the events of the past year-plus inspired Albarn to rework the music into songs dealing with "fragility, loss, emergence, and rebirth." Albarn wrote "Royal Morning Blue" in Iceland, looking out over the sea as rain turned to snow before his eyes. "That's why the song opens with 'Rain turning into snow,' because it's that moment, that feeling," Albarn says. "In all the darkness that we have experienced, that was such a beautiful, positive thing."
Below, hear the album version of "Royal Morning Blue" plus an in-studio live performance.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=lY0xBLdyWng
https://youtube.com/watch?v=sc8X5MoJFVw
The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows is out 11/12 on Transgressive.
