Blur’s eighth studio album has been the subject of much speculation from fans, fueled even more by frontman Damon Albarn’s constant re-touching on the matter. Albarn claimed over a year ago that Blur was working on new material. Producer William Orbit (who worked on Blur’s psych-friendly album 13) then alleged last May that Albarn had halted sessions for Blur’s new album, saying “it all stopped suddenly.” Orbit tweeted at the time: “Blur could have been good. But Damon, brilliant and talented tho he is, is kinda a shit to the rest of Blur.”

It would have been foolish to assume that was the end of Blur, though. Albarn gave LP8 new life last night when Blur performed at Hong Kong’s AsiaWorld-Expo. “We have a week in Hong Kong, and we thought it would be a good time to try and record another record,” Albarn said to rousing applause. Prior to that, he mentioned that “unforeseen cirumstances” caused the cancellation of upcoming Japan gigs, but that the band would make them up in the near future. I’m sure Japanese fans (and all fans for that matter) can forgive Blur if that hiatus results in Blur’s first album since 2003’s Think Tank.

Blur have released three tracks since reforming in 2009: “Fool’s Day“, “Under the Westway”, and “The Puritan“:

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