Serenely floating like a calm stream.

While Damon Albarn has certainly kept busy with Gorillaz and other side projects over the last few years, it’s been seven years since he released a proper solo release under his own name. But he’s looking to fix that later this year with The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows. The title track is our first taste of the release and it’s a lovely piece of ambience that offers a tranquil bed of light synths, acoustic guitar notes and piano keys for Albarn to sing beautifully over, his voice rising and falling as the music floats away into the atmosphere.

Originally inspired by poet John Clare and the landscapes of Iceland, the album is an exploration of fragility, loss, emergence and rebirth. “I have been on my own dark journey while making this record and it led me to believe that a pure source might still exist,” Albarn said.

The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows is out on Nov. 12 via Transgressive Records.