Blur announce new album The Magic Whip

It's set to be released 27 April by Parlophone.

The band have been interviewed by Zane Lowe in a Chinese restaurant on Chinese New Year, and confirmed a few details, as well as talked about their time together - and apart over the past few years.

The tracklist can be found below.

The Britpop legends last released a record - the critically lauded Think Tank, sans Graham Coxon - in 2003, before sort of fizzling away after the departure of Coxon, confirming 2005 that there were no further plans for the band. Their last record as a full band came 16 years ago.

All members kept themselves busy though, with Damon Albarn working on Gorillaz and myriad other projects, Coxon releasing solo records, Alex James making cheese and writing for The Sun, and Dave Rowntree animating/politicking.

However, after reuniting for a series of well-received shows, the band released two singles ("The Puritan" and "Under The Westway"), and rumours swirling about the possibility of the Think Tank follow up. Now it seems that what was once a thing of dreams is set to become a reality. In 2013, Albarn told SPIN that "we were supposed to play in Japan next week, but due to unforeseen circumstances we were not able to go there... so we have a week in Hong Kong, and we thought it would be a good time to try and record another record."

Translated, the artwork, which was revealed via The Sun with the description "massive band, more than a decade after their last full studio release", says 'Blur - The Magic Whip'. The Sun teased in their preview that it was aband who last dropped a record in the Chinese Year Of The Goat - 2003. The art is by Tony Hunt.

The band have also announced they are playing Hyde Park, for British Summertime on 20 June.

Pre-order the new album here.

While we're all waiting on tenterhooks for some new noise, let's get pumped with "Song 2".