In 2014, Damon Albarn, front man of the British virtual band Gorillaz, announced he was planning a new album. A year later, he began.
Finally, in spring 2017, Humanz was announced — a whopping 26 track record with six singles. After their seven year hiatus, their new album dropped on April 28. But does it live up to seven years of hype?
The album has a very dark, brooding tone throughout that oozes political commentary not-so-subtly aimed at the latest American president. Songs like “Ascension” and “Let Me Out” reference Obama and Trump, but bleep them out in an effort to preserve the songs’ relevancy past their release.
In an interview with BBC One Radio, Albarn stated the album is about the end of the world; it features many guests, all of whom were instructed to put their spin on this theme. Albarn also said the album is not about Trump, though some songs hypothesised his current era of doom and gloom. This direction leads the album to sound less cohesive than Demon Days (2005) or Plastic Beach (2010), but more like a sporadic collection of hits linked by a metaphorical apocalypse.
Politics aside, Humanz is still an upbeat, delightfully poppy album. Tracks like “Strobelite,” “Momentz,” “Submission,” “Andromeda,” and “We Got the Power” exude good vibes with happy, colourful vocals and synths.
The darker, more pointed songs retain a frenetic, dire sound which enhances the album’s malaise tone, but doesn’t detract from the album’s hip-hop/pop/trip-hop sound, making most of it very dance-able.
Vince Staples kicks things off with “Ascension,” bringing a hedonistic flare to an impending rapture. “Saturnz Barz” sees singer Popcaan spurting intense bars enveloped by distant, spacey trap. “Let Me Out” is equally tense, with Pusha T preaching about corruption and hard times to Mavis Staples.
These songs are all underscored by Albarn as the character 2-D, the virtual band’s singer; this is a weird choice given that it makes many tracks sound more like the guests featuring Gorillaz, rather than the other way around. Fortunately, Albarn dominates a few tracks, including “Charger” — a high energy, electro-rock anthem, “Busted and Blue” — a slower, overtly depressed tune, and “Ticker Tape” — a creeping, beautifully written gem.
It’s not just 2-D who seems to be missing, but the rest of Gorillaz. Murdoc on bass, Russel on drums and Noodle on guitar are ousted in favour of a heavily synthesized sound.
It works in favour of Humanz’ sound, but loses some of the magic of Gorillaz from its virtual band perspective.
A television show featuring Jamie Hewlett’s characters has been announced, so their true contributions are yet to be seen.
There are a handful of interludes which aid the album’s flow, but they sometimes sound too bizarre or unnecessary, such as “Elevator Going Up.”
While it is hard to pick one favourite song, it is easy to see which elements fall short: I didn’t love “Sex Murder Party” — an overly simplistic song with nonsensical lyrics even by Gorillaz’ standards — “Halfway to the Halfway House,” a generic-sounding bonus track that didn’t tickle my fancy, and the final bonus track “Circle of Friendz” that feels like a waste of potential (what could have been a good hook was just repeated ad nauseum).
Simply put, Gorillaz are back, with more friendz than ever.
