Dropping ‘The Happy Dictator,’ their new collaborative single with Sparks, on Thursday (9.11) Gorillaz cemented their return by announcing The Mountain, their forthcoming LP and a 2026 tour.
The Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett’s band’s ninth studio album will be released on March 20 along with a UK and Ireland tour that launches on March 21 in Manchester, England.
Debuting at a “mystery show” in London earlier this month, the fictitious act’s new collection was recorded in London, Devon and India. And revealing the project was inspired by the pair’s shared grief over lost family members, in a recent interview with Rolling Stone Hewlett said:
“It was all like: ‘This is f****** weird, there’s a reason why we’re here’.” “Losing our fathers, and losing my mother-in-law, and then being in India as an artist. Visually, if you’re an artist and you go to India and it doesn’t blow your mind, then you must be blind, you know? Everything is insane and rich and colourful and mad and tragic and beautiful.” “Damon worked with a lot of fantastic Indian musicians. We just had the best time, and we were so inspired and excited by the experience.”
Urging fans to listen to the entire record in order instead of cherry-picking their favorite tracks, Jamie said the LP was designed to be listened to from start to finish, adding:
“You’re supposed to listen to it from beginning to end. What we’re asking is, take the time to sit with your earphones and listen for however long the album is, and look at the artwork, and then just lose yourself in this story.” “Don’t cherry pick a song, listen to it all. We’re trying to bring back that idea of taking time to invest in something, instead of this culture of scrolling.”
The upcoming project features collaborations with such artists as IDLES, Paul Simonon, Johnny Marr and Anoushka Shankar, who Damon admitted working with because he loved listening to her father Ravi Shankar’s music when he was growing up.
Stating that the collaboration gave him a connection to his own father Keith, who died last year, Albarn explained “I probably listened to Ravi Shankar before I listened to The Beatles when I was a kid … [So] to have Anoushka Shankar on the record is not only a real privilege, but the connection with my dad and his love of Ravi Shankar is great.”
On September 20, Gorillaz will perform at the Pulse of Gaia Festival in Madrid, Spain before beginning The Mountain Tour at the Co-Op Live venue in Manchester, England on March 212 followed by stops in Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Cardiff, Nottingham, Liverpool, Belfast and Dublin before wrapping in London at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on June 20.
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Author: Al Denté
Photo: wonker from London, United Kingdom