Band goes on spiritual, cross-cultural quest, inspired by South Asian’s sounds in The Mountain

MORE than two decades into its existence, Gorillaz still find ways to reinvent itself. On its ninth studio album The Mountain, Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett push the project into a spiritual and cultural territory that the band has never fully explored before.

The album is heavily designed around Indian culture and music. Sitar runs through almost every track, becoming a guiding presence rather than a background instrument. It gives the entire record a sense of ascent, with each song slowly lifting the listener upward.

That sound is paired with themes that feel unusually spiritual even for Gorillaz. The Mountain is clearly concerned with life, death and reincarnation. Many of the song titles hint at a world populated by divine figures or symbolic characters.

Tracks such as The God of Lying, The Sad God, The Happy Dictator, The Plastic Guru, The Shadowy Light and The Sweet Prince feel like pieces of a larger mythological system.

Whether they represent a pantheon of deities or a single multifaceted god is left open – but the effect is striking.

Standout tracks

The album has several strong contenders for its best moments.

The Moon Cave is one of the album’s most satisfying collaborations. Albarn’s production and composition leave plenty of space for the various guest artistes to shine, creating a layered track that feels grand and fluid. The rap verse by Black Thought is especially satisfying, cutting and tying neatly into the song’s spiritual tone.

Orange County is one of the album’s most emotional tracks. It is reflective, almost bittersweet and shows Albarn’s songwriting at its most personal.

The Manifesto stands as the perfect example of the album’s cultural experimentation. Trueno’s Spanish rap over Indian-inspired production should not work as well as it does, but it absolutely goes hard.

Cross-cultural sound done right

One of the most impressive aspects of The Mountain is how naturally it blends different musical traditions.

Spanish rap from Trueno rides over Indian instrumentation on The Manifesto. Elsewhere, the Arabic vocal passages on Damascus expand the album’s sonic palette. Cross-cultural blending at this level is rarely heard on western-produced albums.

Importantly, it never feels forced. The record does not come across like Albarn going on an Eat, Pray, Love-style journey. Instead it feels respectful and appreciative of South Asian musical traditions.

Collaborations and voices from beyond

Every feature on the album adds something different. With Gorillaz records, collaborations can sometimes feel like cameos, but here each guest feels essential to the song they appear on.

The most touching aspect is the inclusion of deceased past collaborators. Albarn reportedly went through decades of recordings to find unused takes from artistes the band had worked with who have since passed away.

According to Jamie Hewlett, the idea was to repurpose “voices from the next place”, including contributions from artistes such as Dennis Hopper, Bobby Womack and Dave Jolicoeur of De La Soul.

Given that the album deals so heavily with death and the afterlife, those appearances feel deeply meaningful rather than nostalgic.

Albarn and Hewlett still at the top of their game

Albarn’s vocal performance and composing on The Mountain reach new heights. He has always been capable of moving between melancholy and grand ambition, but here those qualities are fully realised.

Hewlett’s visual work remains just as important to the Gorillaz identity. His art style is still iconic and continues to shape the world the band inhabits.

That visual ambition is especially clear in the animated short released alongside the album. The film, inspired by the Disney classic The Jungle Book, was created using traditional cel-style animation.

In an era dominated by digital production, choosing such a labour-intensive technique shows how far Gorillaz is still willing to push its creative medium.

Final thoughts

The Mountain is one of the most ambitious projects Gorillaz has attempted. It blends cultures, explores spirituality and brings together voices from the past and the present.

Few bands this far into their career are still experimenting at this scale. Even fewer manage to pull it off.

With The Mountain, Gorillaz does exactly that.

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 The Sun Malaysia