When we last spoke about Blur, Graham Coxon was downplaying the fact that the band had been meeting to jam and record, noting that it could be “six years” until a new LP was released. And, eight months later, it seems like we are in the same boat, with frontman Damon Albarn speaking to NME and pretty much confirming that the band has been meeting and recording.

But, the story has a little more to it now, with Albarn speaking of a specific track, a spoken word piece with poet Michael Horovitz written as a response to the possible cancellation of Notting Hill Carnival this year. But the song was not released when that threat was lifted. As of now, Albarn casts doubts about whether that song will ever see the light of day, noting “if they’d have cancelled the carnival – and thank God they didn’t – maybe we’d have put it out. It had its moment: it was a perfect plea to reinstate the carnival. So it wasn’t relevant – it was relevant for about 12 hours.”

But, most interesting about the NME story is that Albarn apparently hinted that the band has tentative 2012 plans to tour, even possibly outside of the UK. Albarn concedes that Blur plans would have to work with his many other commitments, but the quote that he gets an “amazing feeling” when playing with his old band should give hope to even the most skeptical of fans. As always, we will keep you updated should any further information become available.