British musician Damon Albarn and illustrator Jamie Hewlett’s virtual band Gorillaz will drop their new album The Mountain tomorrow.
Inspired by the duo’s loss of close family members during
their time in India, the new project is described to be a cohesive and
conceptual work. It explores the ideas of death and the afterlife through the
band’s fictional characters.
The title, seen on the album’s artwork written in the
Devanagari script, was inspired by the pair’s first visit to the Amber Fort in
Jaipur. It reads as ‘parbat’, which means mountain.
“It was a magical moment for us,” Damon recounted in an
interivew.
“The music emanated from there, so we named the album The
Mountain. But it’s also a mountain we visited in Western China years ago, which
was so high that you couldn’t even light a match at the top,” he added.
The two also described the new release as their most
cohesive one since their highly praised Plastic Beach (2010), as they spent
more time together.
“Jamie, after Plastic Beach, changed his life quite
dramatically and moved to France, and that was quite a cataclysm in our
relationship at the time. But we managed to completely find each other again.
And I suppose going to India was the pinnacle of that,” Damon explained.
For his part, Jamie said: “We found ourselves on a very
similar page. Damon’s father passed away, and my father passed away 10 days
later. We were like, ‘Okay, the themes of this record are starting to present
themselves to us quite clearly’.”
Keeping with its theme, the project is set to include unused
vocal takes from many deceased Gorillaz collaborators, including soul singer
Bobby Womack, De La Soul rapper David Jolicoeur and actor Dennis Hopper.
There will be collaborations with numerous modern artists
and musicians, like Syrian singer Omar Souleyman, known for his worldwide hit
Warni Warni, and rapper Yasiin Bey on the track Damascus.
Formed in 1998, Gorillaz consists of four fictional members:
2-D (on vocals, keyboards and melodica), Murdoc Niccals (on bass guitar),
Noodle (on guitar, keyboards and backup vocals) and Russel Hobbs (on drums).
Their universe is presented through music videos, interviews
and comic strips, among others.
The band is best known for their hit songs Clint Eastwood,
Feel Good Inc and DARE.
