Blur’s latest comeback song was inspired by the deadly 2014 Sydney hostage crisis, frontman Damon Albarn has revealed.
The new track, “There Are Too Many Of Us,” arrived late last week and features themes of overpopulation over a marching drumbeat. “There are too many of us in tiny houses here and there,” Albarn sings.
Albarn has since told the NME how he wrote the song in the wake of the hostage incident that unfolded in Sydney’s Martin Place last December. Albarn was in town when the siege gripped the city center. Indeed, his first show at the Sydney Opera House was postponed when the situation locked-up areas of the CBD (Albarn made up for it with two shows the following night). Three people died in the dramatic standoff at the Lindt Café — two hostages and the gunman.
Damon Albarn Postpones Sydney Opera House Show As CBD Siege Continues
“Probably the initial idea came from being in a very claustrophobic city,” he told the music title, “but I actually finished the lyric after having come back from Australia. I was there the day they had the hostage situation in the chocolate shop, which was an extraordinary thing to witness. I was staying in a hotel where I could literally see what was going on outside and watch it on television. I’ve never been in that position before, and as a songwriter that was a very interesting standpoint to have. To be seeing something on TV, and then out the window it’s happening. Seeing the reality of what was happening and how it was being distorted through the prism of [the camera] was kind of fascinating.”
Blur Reveal New Album ‘The Magic Whip’ Coming This Spring
The returning Britpop giants will release a new album, The Magic Whip, on April 27. It’ll be the band’s first album as a four-piece in 16 years. “There Are Too Many Of Us” is the second song lifted from it, after the group shared “Go Out” last month.
Watch Blur’s self-directed video, which was shot during rehearsals in March.