Although there are no Irish gigs announced as yet, Damon Albarn fans can in the meantime catch him tomorrow night on BBC 2's Later Live... and on the programme's extended edition next Friday night.
In the course of a revealing interview with The Observer yesterday (Sunday), the 46-year old Blur and Gorillaz singer revealed that his curiosity about the music of other cultures began when he was aged nine. He asked his parents to let him travel to Istanbul with a family friend, and fortunately they agreed.
"I found myself on my own a lot and every day I wandered around the city just trying to take everything in," he says. "I went into mosques to watch people praying and sat in rug shops in the souks, drinking tea and chatting. It was quite bizarre when I come to think of it, but I was too mesmerised by the sights and the sounds and the smells of the place to be scared in any way."
Much of that sense of daring and experimentation has made it on to the elemental, sometimes almost 'bare bones' sound of his new record, Everyday Robots. The partially-autobiographical collection of songs - many of which have a wistful, melancholy cast - is winning a broad swathe of critical acclaim from both critics and fans.
