Damon Albarn to release first solo album in April after debuting songs at Sundance

The former Blur star revealed the news in a tweet to his fans on Sunday

Damon Albarn of Blur will release his debut solo album on 28 April (Getty Images)

Blur frontman Damon Albarn has announced that his debut solo album will hit stores in spring.

The British singer, 45, has released albums with a range of collaborators in the past, but Everyday Robots will see him go it alone for the first time.

In December, Albarn had posted a 20-second black and white teaser clip on YouTube, showing him sitting at a piano and singing with the caption "Damon Albarn, first solo album, coming 2014".

Albarn confirmed the news and presented the album's artwork in a tweet:

Albarn's new project follows his work on stage productions Monkey: Journey to the West and Dr Dee. Previously, he was the vocalist and main songwriter of Gorillaz, the virtual band he formed in 1998. Other projects have included working with African musicians to fundraise for Oxfam and composing film soundtracks.

He debuted five ballads from Everyday Robots at the Sundance Film Festival on Sunday night, accompanied by a string quartet. New tracks included “Everyday Robots” and “You and Me”, but Albarn concluded with a rendition of Blur’s “To the End”.

While Albarn is sticking to his musical roots, his Blur bandmate, bassist Alex James has turned his hand to the cold beverages industry.

James revealed last week that he has applied to the intellectual property office to trademark a new drink called…Britpop. No stranger to the consumer market, James  produced his own unique cheeses - Blue Monday, Figgy Pudding and Farleigh Wallop - before they were dropped by Asda two years ago.

Albarn last performed with Blue at a Hyde Park show in 2012, more than two decades after the release of their first album, Leisure, in 1991. The band’s most recent release was a single, “ Under the Westway”, also from 2012.