‘The Mountain’
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GORILLAZ – THE MOUNTAIN – ALBUM REVIEW
Since playing the record in full at the “mystery” show during their House of Kong exhibition, the hype for ‘The Mountain’ has steadily risen. New Gorillaz albums always hit a bit different, and this new collection already feels like a monumental release for the group.
With much writing and recording happening in India, the influence of the regions culture is central to the sonic ambience of this album and helps to give these songs a unique identity compared to the big hitters in the Gorillaz back catalogue. This is of course still a celebration of world music; as recent Gorillaz albums have been.
Thematically, ‘The Mountain’ is very much a conceptual record based around the themes of life, death and the afterlife. This leads to some of their most emotive work to date with songs which we will all unfortunately be able to relate to.
As with any Gorillaz record, this is a collaborative project with many guests strewn across the album including Sparks, IDLES and Johnny Marr. A particularly nice touch though considering the themes of the record is the inclusion of unused vocal takes from previous collaborators who are sadly no longer with us such as Bobby Womack, David Jolicoeur, Mark E. Smith, Dennis Hopper and Tony Allen.
WATCH THE VIDEO FOR ‘THE HARDEST THING’
The collection is an album in the truest sense. Cohesively built and designed to be enjoyed as it’s put down. For those needing a reminder of how we used to do things before short-form media – that means to listen to the album uninterrupted, in order, from track one to fifteen. The album is a long one, needing your undivided attention, but it does reward you for your time completely with a fully immersive listening experience.
If you are viewing ‘The Mountain’ through modern music consumption lenses, then you’d say that the album is bloated and some fat needs to be trimmed, for example you’d say a near five-minute intro track is unnecessarily elaborate. That really isn’t the point of this album though! Every element adds to the grandiose, intense and spiritual aesthetic that gives the album its heart and soul.
What is somewhat amusing is that this is the album that has taken Gorillaz into Stadiums and it will be fascinating to see how the album is absorbed into their big summer shows, which tend to attract more casual fans.
That is a question for then though and the only question now is how Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewitt continue to evolve one of the most evolved projects in music. The term genius is thrown around too much, but you have to sit in awe at the pure creative force of nature that Gorillaz has become!
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