Damon Albarn has told a fan that the new Gorillaz album is finished.

The long-awaited ‘Plastic Beach’ follow-up is set to land later this year, with Albarn adding that a tour is in the works.

The news comes via Gorillaz fan and music blogger Jack Winstanley, who ran into the Gorillaz co-creator and tweeted quotes from Albarn on the upcoming release.

Gorillaz have dropped their first new music in four years, 'Hallelujah Money', featuring vocals from 2015 Mercury Prize winner Benjamin Clementine.

The track is the first from the fictional band's highly anticipated forthcoming album, their first in six years.

The song is described as a “commentary on a politically-charged, historical moment” as it drops on the eve of Donald Trump’s inauguration, accompanied by a video depicting Clementine singing amongst projected images such as KKK marches and burning oil wells.

Gorillaz’ cartoon bassist, Murdoc Niccals, has shared a Christmas playlist on Spotify, entitled ‘Dirty Santa Party’.

Containing material by AC/DC, Shakin’ Stevens, Nate Doog, Snoop Dogg, “Weird Al” Yankovic and many others, Gorillaz advised listeners should “enjoy irresponsibly” when they revealed the playlist on their Instagram.

Gorillaz Noodle just shared a cryptic message through the dating website OKCupid that may be teasing the release date of new music from the band.

Noodle, the fictional guitarist and keyboardist in Gorillaz, wrote in the self-summary on the OKCupid account, “Ready? 12:11. xxDA.” The profile has since been disabled, but you can see a screenshot of it below.

The DA refers to Gorillaz’ Damon Albarn. What isn’t clear is whether the “12:11” means new music from the band will land on either Saturday 12th November or Sunday 11th December.

Gorillaz — the animated band created by Damon Albarn and cartoonist Jamie Hewlett — have hinted that new music may be on the way this weekend!

At the beginning of October, Albarn commented that the band's long-awaited fifth album could be finished within two weeks. Now fictional guitarist Noodle has posted a picture of the logo to Saturday night Beats 1 radio show Soulection, tagging the brand and regular presenter Gilles Peterson.

Damon Albarn has told BBC 6 Music that his eagerly anticipated new Gorillaz album should be “ready fairly soon,” adding “I’m loving it and it’s getting there.”

Albarn has been teasing the existence of a new Gorillaz album since 2014, and last year confirmed he would begin recording the follow-up to ‘The Fall' in September of last year.

Albarn recorded the last Gorillaz album using only music software on his iPad, recording the main bulk of the album whilst on a tour bus in the US.

Gorillaz collaborator and comic book artist Jamie Hewlett has revealed that the band’s fifth album will be released in 2017.

The as-yet-untitled record was originally thought to be released later this year, but Hewlett told fan page GorillazNorthAmerica that it will now come next year. They shared the information in an Instagram post over the weekend, which you can see below.