Damon Albarn, Radio Day Stage , SXSW, Radio Day Stage, Friday 14 March

Damon opened on guitar, accompanied by two acoustic guitars, percussion, piano, three violins, a cello, and the click of dozens of press cameras, in a room full of those taking refuge from the Lady Gaga keynote.

He played a set of entirely new songs from his upcoming album. He started with a lovely song with the refrain "When I'm lonely I press play", drawn from similar landscape to Blur's Out of Time. The tunes were understated, melodic and beautiful. They focussed on the disconnection from life brought about by contemporary attachment to technology. "Everyday robots getting old, looking like standing stones out there on our own," he sang. The effect was like bringing "End of a Century" up to date for the concerns of an older musician and a different age, or a more pastoral OK Computer for the current decade.

After a few songs on guitar, Damon moved to the piano, and sang a song about moving to Land's End and reflecting on memory and photography in the digital age.

When he moved back to guitar, he sang a lovely song with a great swelling string part, after which there was a big cheer. He was then joined by six local Austin gospel singers, bringing the total number of people on stage to 15.

Accompanied by ukulele he sang a song he'd written for an injured orphaned baby elephant called Mr Tembo who he met in Tamzania two years previously. The song was up-tempo and had a joyful, gospel sound. He closed with a spine tingling solo version of the duet he performs with Brian Eno on Everyday Robots. The whole performance was very intimate and created a wonderful atmosphere. It was  great way to experience these new songs for the first time.

Other SXSW 2014 reviews from Broken Biscuit Records:
Damon Albarn
Gruff Rhys
Woman’s Hour
Wolf Alice
Jeremy Messersmith