Damon Albarn Debuts New Blur Song During Solo Set in London

During a solo performance at last night’s (June 14) Poetry Olympics in London, Blur‘s Damon Albarn took the opportunity to treat the crowd to the debut of a brand-new Blur song. The mere existence of the tune may have come as a bit of a surprise to Blur-spotters, as reports last month indicated Albarn had nixed recent Blur recording sessions due to frustration with the results.

But there it was for the entire assembled crowd — and thus, through the magic of YouTube, the whole world — to hear. And speaking of results, what did it sound like? Well, to our ears, it sounded like an unknown Blur song played solo by Albarn. Funny how that works out, ain’t it?

Picking up an acoustic guitar while seated by himself in the center of the huge stage, Albarn introduced the tune with a barely audible (on the YouTube video, at least) comment which got the tiniest of laughs from the (likely totally enamored) crowd. He then launched into the cut, which features a repetitively simple, two-chord strum pattern played on guitar, with his playful vocals on top. It’s certainly not flushed out like a Blur song, but it’s not hard to fill in the blanks.

In fact, he drew on the audience to fill in those blanks, singing a “la la la” vocal part several times before getting them to join him, then using that chorus of “las” to act as a vocal harmony that he sang on top of. Pretty neat little trick, indeed. Check it out below — it starts at about the 2:30 mark.

The performance at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall was for an event titled “POEM! 2012: The Poetry Olympics Enlightenment Marathon” that was part of the Poetry Olympics, which is perhaps a poetry-themed forerunner to the actual 2012 Summer Olympics being held in London. Blur are slated to headline a concert at London’s Hyde Park on Aug. 12 to celebrate the Olympics’ closing ceremony.

Watch Damon Albarn’s Solo Performance of a New Blur Song