Blur Have Released A Song Inspired By The Sydney Siege, Featuring Way Too Many Star Wipes

’90s Britpop legends Blur are gearing up to release their first album in over a decade, and things are getting kind of weird.

Though they’ve become known for their distinctive change in sound over the years, the latest album titled The Magic Whip is particularly notable. If the first tracks are any indication, it’s essentially gonna be lo-fi grunge styled like obscure Asian pop.

This is undoubtedly due to the fact they recorded the album in Hong Kong, but still — the first music video is literally just an Asian woman making homemade ice cream.

Now, the second track is getting some influence from Australia. When announcing the album release last month, frontman Damon Albarn told NME that he finished writing the song when his show at Sydney’s Opera House was postponed because of the Martin Place siege.

“I was there the day they had the hostage situation in the chocolate shop, which was an extraordinary thing to witness,” he said. “I was staying in a hotel where I could literally see what was going on outside and watch it on television. I’ve never been in that position before, and as a songwriter that was a very interesting standpoint to have. To be seeing something on TV, and then out the window it’s happening. Seeing the reality of what was happening and how it was being distorted through the prism of [the camera] was kind of fascinating.”

The track is called ‘There Are Too Many Of Us’ and it is definitely not as chirpy as ‘Parklife’.

Here’s the full lyrics in case you were a little too distracted by all the gripping editing techniques ©Powerpoint 1997.

There are too many of us
That’s plain to see
We all believe in praying
For our immortality

We’ve posed these questions to our children
Across the mountain stream
And live in tiny houses
Of the same mistakes we’ve made

Cause there are too many of us
In tiny houses here and there
Passing out somewhere
But you won’t care

There are too many of us
That’s plain to see
We all believe in praying
For our immortality

For a moment I was dislocated
My terror on the loop, elsewhere
Flashing lights are vacating
On the big screens everywhere

There are too many of us
In tiny houses, here and there
All looking through the windows
On everything we share

We pose these questions to our children
Leave the mountain stream
And live in tiny houses
Of the same mistakes we make

There are too many of us
Oh, that’s plain to see
All living in tiny houses
About our immortality