What exactly are we looking for in the Gorillaz? Not an easy question for me to answer. Because the Gorillaz are a rather diverse concept. They are a cartoon band. They are Damon Albarn's music. Maybe they are their own thing. It can all get a bit mixed up. The tone of the music is chaotic. Personally I find the discography a little disjointed, but also spotted with golden tracks. Some of their albums are decidedly Gorillaz albums and lean into the concept of a band. In others I find Albarn's creative expression clashes or breaks through the mask. This latest album feels more like a collab between Albarn and the fiction of his own making. This is made even better with the amount of collaboration this embraces with a variety of artists. If you come to this album new I think you'll like it right away. For those of us 'better read' on the Gorillaz it might take a couple listens for it to settle in. 

The sound is with the times, but still decidedly of the Albarn/Gorillaz flavour. It's funky and fresh; has lots of hooky synth; explores any drum line it feels necessary; and overall does a good job. It is a bit of an evolution. It still pulls some of the classic tricks that make a Gorillaz album unique, but I definitely find these tracks a little less rough edged. It starts with the kind of hooks that tell you its time for the Gorillaz. "Cracker Island" Has that buzzing synth intro and Albarn kills it with the vocal rhythm. "Oil" has a smoothness much like its name. I love the fullness of sound it brings. "The Tired Influencer" rang with images of our strung out tech addicts. "Silent Running" captures my mind. The vocals are metered fantastically and the instrumentals bring forward facing funkiness. "New Gold" Is fresh and dark. It scratches the itch for some rap vocals in the mix. "Tormenta" was an unexpected vibe. The beat and whole tone of it are completely different. I'm tempted to say it isn't really a track that fits, but somehow it just works in the album? I'll let people decide for themselves, but I love it. "Skinny Ape" bring heavy mono synth drops as well as massive sounds. The energy and pacing on it are fantastic. 

It's an interesting album. The songs touch on who we are. There are tinges of existential dread, hope, and yearning. Perhaps that is what always drew me to the Gorillaz. They know how to find feelings. They know when ideas feel bigger than words. The music is like this washing coat over all of that that makes these things go somewhere. I wasn't sure how I felt on the first listen. It is easy to look at some of the more iconic and internalized tracks I love and feel like these don't live up. But, after a few listens I found the thread. We have to let artists evolve and experience them as they are both now and as they presented before. Because we live in the now this is often important to remember. Context is important and it helped me apprecieate this album properly, but I had to let go of my expectations to do so.