Monkey opera set for album release

Released under the artist name 'Monkey', Journey to the West will add another strand to the pair's collaboration, which premiered at last year's Manchester International Festival and made its London debut at the Royal Opera House earlier this week.

The album will be released digitally and on CD in the UK via XL on 18 August, with a US date planned for autumn. A vinyl box set - featuring heavyweight vinyl, a Hewlett-designed poster, a 60-page booklet and a handmade box - will also be available from the Monkey: Journey to the West website.

The duo recently revealed that their next project will be Carousel, a film and stage project that Albarn has written around 70 songs for so far. '[Carousel] is even bigger and more difficult than Monkey,' Hewlett told the Observer. 'I've done a lot of visuals and Damon's done a lot of music but we haven't figured out how they're going to fit together.'

http://www.monkeyjourneytothewest.com/

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