Gorillaz ninth release is an album fueled by the reflection of grief and encapsulates a sense of place better than anything they’ve released in the last 15 years. One of the keys to this is the consistency and flow of the record, from the opening of “The Mountain” until its final stop with “The Sad God”, we get a kaleidoscopic story of culture and songs which are delivered in five different languages.
It wouldn’t be an album from the animated outfit without a plethora of cameos and appearances throughout from the likes of Idles and Johnny Marr, along with older and previous collaborators such as Gruff Rhys. There are also nods to their late collaborators of past including Dennis Hopper on the introduction and Bobby Womack on “The Moon Cave”. All of this fits into the themes of lost and giving a sense that nobody is every truly forgotten.
“Orange County” straddles a tightrope of being melancholic but somewhat hopeful at the same time. It’s almost impossible not to find yourself whistling along to its chorus, but at the same time you can feel Albarn’s true emotion through his delivery. “The Happy Dictator” is exactly what you would hope and expect from a collaboration between Gorillaz and Sparks. It has all of that whimsical charm that both bands do so well and blends them together perfectly in what is clearly an album highlight.
It feels they’ve always worked best when they span across multiple genres and “Delirium” stands out from the pack here with what starts with a choral background before morphing into an absolute dance banger which you can absolutely imagine the crowd moving along to in their live shows. The album feels as though it reaches the peak of its namesake during “The Manifesto”, particularly in it’s second half featuring an inspired freestyle rap from D12’s Proof.
Over the last week or so this album has just ear wormed its way into my life and it keeps drawing me back in. There’s something about it which feels refreshing every time you listen to it; the layers and intricacies crafted into each song make it by far their strongest record since 2005’s “Demon Days”. With this latest record Hewlett and Albarn have created something quite special which is sure to be in many people’s end of year lists come December. Their upcoming tour is due to be a real event, culminating in a huge performance at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium later this summer which is sure to be one of the shows of the summer.
