Transgressive Records celebrate an exciting release year for The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows with a 4-disc digital deluxe edition of the critically acclaimed second solo album from Damon Albarn. Available now.
This special edition comes almost a year after the album was first announced, just ahead of an emotional return to Glastonbury for the unique live performance and streaming event Live At Worthy Farm. The summer then saw Albarn – alongside a full live band – take to the road to perform two acclaimed shows at Manchester International Festival and Edinburgh International Festival; a special guest appearance at Latitude; as well as appear as guest headliner at the sold out End of the Road Festival.
September brought a headline show and global stream beamed live to 92 countries around the world from the iconic Shakespeare’s Globe in London, followed by a select number of solo intimate piano dates, presented in association with local record stores, across the UK in December 2022. Albarn also finally completed a twice-postponed European concert hall tour which saw him perform songs from the album with an orchestra, and a very special final show in Reykjavik last month, back where it all began.
Released on 12 November 2022, The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows debuted at #7 in the UK album charts, and was described by MOJO as “ … one of the most beautiful, tangentially produced artefacts of our strange and uncertain times.” Originally conceived as an orchestral piece inspired by the landscape of Iceland, the project evolved during lockdown to the 11 new tracks included on the studio album.
To accompany the record, a series of special, cinematic films entitled ‘Sublime Boulevards – Performance Films’ were released across the year on YouTube.
A limited exhibition at the Eranda Studio at The Photographers’ Gallery, London, curated by Anna Sparham, showcased source materials and inspirations behind the album, featuring unseen artwork, photography and film footage, plus Albarn’s own sketches and lyrics.
Watch Albarn talking to Sunday Times Culture’s ‘Off The Record’ on the inspiration behind album track ‘Royal Morning Blue’.
This very special 4-disc digital deluxe release includes the original album; a full-length, one-off piano and strings performance captured live at Union Chapel, London in December 2021, including a number of Blur and Gorillaz classics; album instrumentals; plus three bonus tracks previously only made available via limited edition physical formats of the album – including ‘The Bollocked Man’, which was debuted live for the first time on Albarn’s recent European tour; ‘Huldufolk’, which translates as ‘The Hidden People’, a 20-minute composition co-written and narrated by influential Iceland musician, Einar Orn (Sugarcubes); and ‘Love & Memory’, a recital by Albarn of the John Clare poem that inspire
The complete tracklisting is:
Disc 1 – The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows (Original Album Tracklisting):
The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows
The Cormorant
Royal Morning Blue
Combustion
Daft Wader
Darkness To Light
Esja
The Tower Of Montevideo
Giraffe Trumpet Sea
Polaris
Particles
Disc 2 – Live at Union Chapel:
The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows
The Cormorant
Royal Morning Blue
Daft Wader
Darkness To Light
The Tower of Montevideo
Polaris
Particles
Beetlebum
Under The Westway
Sweet Song
El Manana
For Tomorrow
Tender
Girls & Boys
The Universal
Disc 3 – Instrumentals:
The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows
The Cormorant
Royal Morning Blue
Daft Wader
Darkness To Light
The Tower of Montevideo
Polaris
Particles
Disc 4 – Bonus Tracks:
The Bollocked Man
Love & Memory (poem recital)
Huldufolk (hidden track from CD format)
Released to critical acclaim in November 2021, the album was originally conceived as an orchestral piece inspired by the landscape of Iceland, The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows evolved during lockdown to the 11 new tracks included on the album. Albarn recently performed the record in full at sold-out shows across the UK, Ireland and Europe, a highlight including two headline shows at the Barbican in February.
In a career of perpetual musical shifts and exploration, this new record uncovers yet more ground, finding expansive orchestral arrangements nestling with intimate melodies, discordance brushing up against infectious majesty, all set to some of Albarn’s most arresting vocal performances to date. Much like the beauty and chaos of the natural world it soundtracks, The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows vividly documents the emotional ebb and flow of the human condition, in all its extremes, serving as a soul enriching document for our times.
