Photo by Chris Tuite

Following a very busy 2012, Blur allegedly have a new album on the horizon. But, to the surprise of no one, Damon Albarn has also got other projects lined up, as he details in a new Rolling Stone interview. He just finished recording his first solo album, and plans to tour solo in support of it, playing music from across his entire career with Blur and Gorillaz.

Albarn told Rolling Stone that the solo record is "sort of folk soul" and was produced by XL Recordings head Richard Russell. (The two worked together on Bobby Womack's 2012 album.) "Richard does the rhythmic side, and I do everything else," Albarn said.

He continued:

[Russell]'s done spectacularly well as a music mogul, but I think he wants to focus his energy on producing records. Making a solo record can be such a disaster, so I thought if we're going to make a record with my name on it, I should get someone to really produce it-- take that responsibility away from myself.

As for the Blur LP, Albarn's elaboration to Rolling Stone makes its status seem more hypothetical. The band would like to work on it in between European festival dates this summer. "We've got a couple of occasions when we're stuck in the middle of nowhere," Albarn said. "So we might make the record in a week. If we can, it would be nice."

Earlier this year, Albarn confirmed a July 2013 run for his and Jamie Hewlett's Chinese opera-inspired musical Monkey: Journey to the West at New York City's Lincoln Center.

Watch Albarn, Womack, and Russell perform Womack's "Please Forgive My Heart" for Pitchfork.tv: