Alex James has revealed that Blur’s recent recording sessions in Hong Kong went “very well”.

Onstage in Hong Kong last month (May), Damon Albarn told the crowd that the band were heading back into the studio. “So we have a week in Hong Kong, and we thought it would be a good time to try and record another record,” he said at the time.

Now James has given an update. ”We had a few days off in Hong Kong and thought, ‘What the hell, let’s go to the studio.’ It went very well. The opportunity came and we took it. Any chance to get together and make music is very welcome,” he told BANG Showbiz. “It was absolutely brilliant. We were just jamming, but it was good. I hope it happens.”

The question of whether Blur will record a follow-up to 2003’s Think Tank album is an ongoing saga. Blur released two new tracks – “Under The Westway” and “The Puritan” – for last year’s Hyde Park shows, and the band have hinted that more could follow, with producer William Orbit telling NME that the band had been in the studio working on new material with him. However, more recently, Graham Coxon denied it would happen in a conversation with a fan on Twitter in November 2012. Asked if there is a new Blur album coming out and, if so, when? Coxon replied by simply saying, “No”.

Blur will play their only show on the British Isles this year at Dublin’s Irish Museum of Modern Art on August 1. The date marks Blur’s first show in Ireland in four years. Bat For Lashes and The Strypes support.