Gorillaz released their ninth album back in February, a fifteen song set called The Mountain. It's a concept album, like all Gorillaz albums are, but this one's about death and grief and the question of what happens next. The two human mainstays of Gorillaz, Jamie Hewlett and Damon Albarn, lost their dads within a week of each other while they were in India working on the album. Damon wanted to include Indian singers and musicians- Asha Bhosle (who has since died) appears along with Asha Puthli and Anoushka Shankar. Some of the album was recorded in Mumbai, Rishikesh and Jaipur and the Indian strings and classical instruments are all over the album and very affecting.
The album was also recorded in London and Florida and there's a slew of guests with Johnny Marr playing on several songs and Idles and Sparks turning up. Once Damon started writing the album it struck him that if the songs were about death and loss, then some of the vocals should be provided by previous Gorillaz guests who had since died. He went back to the tapes and found vocals that hadn't been used on earlier songs, vocals by Mark E. Smith, Dennis Hopper, Trugoy The Dove and Bobby Womack. (Damon didn't get all the deceased contributions he wanted- Lou Reed's estate denied permission, Lou's dying wish was that there be no posthumous releases, Terry Hall's vocals had been wiped and MF Doom's had already been used elsewhere by Danger Mouse). Tony Allen appears as does rapper Proof. All these dead guests found their way into new songs, the voices reincarnated into new songs.
It's supposed to be heard as a single album, a full piece rather than cut up into digestible chunks to backdrop perpetual doom scrolling. Like all Gorillaz albums, some of it hits and some doesn't. At times Damon's electro- pop smothers the Indian instruments and there's a lot of stuff going on- as ever in Gorillaz world there's a lot of content. But there are several songs that are very good and rather affecting. The opener, The Mountain, is based on an Indian folk song Albarn heard at Rajasthan and reworked with the Hindu Jea Band Jaipur in Jaipur. It's a lovely song, the Indian melodies and instruments doing their thing with Dennis Hopper's voice in there too. This eight minute cartoon segues The Mountain with The Moon Cave (with Bobby Womack and De La Soul's Trugoy) and album closer The Sad God and is a good snapshot of the album. The animation is a joy too, Murdoc, Noodles, 2D and Russel in Disney Jungle Book style.
Last weekend Gorillaz played some stadium gigs in London. This photo turned up on Johnny Marr's social media him and Paul Simonon on stage together, side by side on guitar and bass. A dream guitar- bass combo.
Johnny and Paul appear on one song on the album together too, Casablanca. It doesn't sound much like either man's former bands, with little trace of either The Smiths or The Clash in it. Johnny's way with a chord sequence is right there though among Damon's electro-pop and enervated vocal, the drum machine pushing away and a choir of voices ascending. Along with a few of the other songs on The Mountain, there's something about it that I find quite moving.
