Damon Albarn – currently doing the interview rounds in support of his upcoming Dr Dee project – appears to have confirmed that both Blur and Gorillaz will be retiring for good in 2012.

In an interview with The Guardian, Albarn has offers some unusually frank insights into the prospective futures of his two best-known (and best-loved) projects. As well as discussing his working methods and his one time relationship with heroin, Albarn reveals that Blur’s Hyde Park show in August is likely to double up as their swansong:

“I don’t really see any more recordings after this…I find it very easy to record with Graham. He’s a daily musician. With the other two, it’s harder for them to reconnect. You know what I mean? It’s fine when we play live – it’s really magical still – but actually recording new stuff, and swapping musical influences… it’s quite difficult.”

Albarn also explicitly stated that Blur would not be performing again subsequent to that big performance. If that doesn’t come as enough of a blow to Albarn-watchers, he also revealed that Gorillaz appears to have reached an end. Albarn blames artistic differences between himself and Gorillaz artist Jamie Hewlett, suggesting that the latter felt his artwork was sidelined around the time of 2010’s Plastic Beach:

“I think we were at cross purposes somewhat on that last record, which is a shame…The music and the videos weren’t working as well together, but I felt we’d made a really good record, and I was into it. So we went and played it[…]that sounds very juvenile, doesn’t it? But being juvenile about it, it happens. It’s a shame.”

Albarn, of course, has myriad other projects on the boil. Rocket Juice And The Moon touched down in stores two weeks ago, and the Doctor Dee LP arrives on May 8. Bobby Womack’s Albarn-produced The Bravest Man In The Universe is out on June 11, via XL.