United Kingdom, March 6 -- Damon Albarn's friendship with Jamie Hewlett "deteriorated" following the release of Gorillaz's 2010 album Plastic Beach.

The Blur singer has revealed the pair drifted apart 16 years ago after his pal moved away to France and he felt as though their relationship went through a "strange hiatus" even though they continued working together on five more Gorillaz albums - and Damon sees the band's latest release The Mountain as the real follow-up to Plastic Beach because they grew close once again while they were making it.

During an appearance on The Needle Drop, Damon explained: "I feel really, for me, this [The Mountain] is the next record after Plastic Beach because the relationship between Jamie and I did dete...