The many projects of Damon Albarn

British alternative rock group Blur announced on Thursday that it's readying its first album since 2003's "Think Tank." While the band has been low on the radar, its frontman Damon Albarn has been anything but. We take a look at some of his recent projects.

While Albarn's band, which formed in 1989, was largely dormant until returning in 2009 for a series of live shows, the musician's own endeavors have extended into film, theater, fashion and multi-cultural musical collaborations.

Gorillaz
Albarn's best-known side project and, for many, his best, Gorillaz is a "virtual band" created by him and the artist Jamie Hewlett in which Albarn is embodied by the fictional musician and alter-ego 2D. The band's discography currently ends with the 2011 album "The Fall," but Albarn told the Sydney Morning Herald in October that fans could expect new music in 2016.

"wonderl.land"
Albarn has undertaken several soundtracks for film, theater and opera, and the most recent to see the light of day was 2012's "Dr Dee: An English Opera." Next up is "wonder.land," a musical, internet-era version of "Alice in Wonderland" to premiere in June at the Manchester International Festival before heading to London's National Theatre and Paris's Theatre du Chatelet.

Africa Express
Albarn created the Africa Express project to foster collaboration between western and African artists. Its most recent output was the 2013 album "Africa Express Presents: Maison Des Jeunes," the result of a trip to Mali earlier in 2013 on which Albarn was joined by Brian Eno, Two Inch Punch, Lil' Silva, members of Metronomy and Django Django and a host of other artists.

"Everyday Robots"
A top-selling, Mercury Prize-nominated success, Albarn's debut solo album came in 2014. For what he called his "most personal record," he enlisted a mission choir, played on an instrument he had picked up while traveling in the Democratic Republic of Congo and collaborated on tracks with with Natasha Khan and Brian Eno.

Fred Perry collaboration
Albarn has long been a fan of the designer Fred Perry's style, which was often spotted on Blur band members at the height of the Britpop craze. In 2013 he designed his own polo for the British brand's 60th anniversary. The very simple shirt is stark white with a "60" logo on the chest, made up of the numeral six and the Fred Perry laurel wreath logo forming the "0."

Blur returns with the new album "Magic Whip" on April 27 and has announced a headlining gig on June 20 at British Summer Time Hyde Park.