Gorillaz are set to return with a third studio album complete with newly designed cartoon characters, Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett have confirmed.

The pair let slip in an interview with cbcnews that Damon has already started working on the long-player and Jamie is re-drawing the four characters.

Damon told the news agency: “We’re doing another Gorillaz record. We came back from summer holidays and realized we could do exactly what we wanted to do with Gorillaz. Essentially, Jamie just had to agree to draw the characters again. Because I just do what I do anyway.”

Jamie Hewlett added: “I’m so fucking bored of drawing those characters. But then we had a moment where we had a new angle on it... I’m gonna adapt them. "

The artist continued that Gorillaz' record label EMI were jubilant when the pair confirmed their future plans:

"You’re only the second person we’ve told that Gorillaz is making an album, actually. We were instructed to keep it a secret. When we told the record company, they went “Woohoo!” – you could hear them shouting in the background – and then said, “Don’t tell anybody!”, said Jamie.

(by Scott Colothan)