It is fair to say Damon Albarn has had a remarkable life. Beginning as the lead singer from the huge brit-pop band Blur back in the 90s, where the whole of the UK was obsessed about whether them, or the Manchester-based band Oasis, would go number one on Top of the Pops each week. Since then, Albarn has not just made classics with Graham Coxon, Alex James and Dave Rowntree, but also with the artist Jamie Hewlett, who together formed the band Gorillaz, making hit after hit since their debut in 2001, and now, over twenty years later, we have arrived at their 8th studio album, Cracker Island.
Unlike their past work, this album presents more of a concept, yet being quite vague and disconnecting. This is seen in tracks like ‘Baby Queen‘, which reflects on Albarn meeting one of the members from Thailand’s royal family after playing a set when Blur were still together, doesn’t exactly seem relevant with the supposed concept. Either way, Gorillaz nevertheless make this idea standout creating a massive highlight after listening to this album.
The opening track ‘Cracker Island‘ gives an outstanding imagery of a quasi-religious cult on this so-called island. A huge factor of importance about this track is that Thundercat is featured. A collab between Thundercat and Gorillaz has been the dream of the Gorillaz fanbase for a while now, since Thundercat’s style would clearly fit Gorillaz’s like a glove. The American R&B artist brings an extra ominous feeling to the table with his vocals when singing the lyrics “Forever cult”. The monotone, mixed with moments of high pitched backgrounds, sounds excellent with the complex instrumentals, bass from Thundercat himself as well as solid synths.
Thundercat isn’t the only feature on this album though that shines, as other musicians such as Stevie Nicks, Tame Impala, Bootie Brown (member of The Pharcyde), Bad Bunny, Adeleye Omotayo, and Beck all help make this album deliver well. Scrolling through and listening to Gorillaz’s discography, it’s very clear that whoever they invite to be part of their music always completes the tasks to their full potential. A particular favourite of mine is MF DOOM, who, as usual, used the pen to his advantage on the song “November Has Come”, which was produced by the one and only Danger Mouse. For their recent album, all the features contribute well, highlighting Albarn’s skills when working with them, as it doesn’t feel as if each feature is trying to standout or carry the songs, but just adding little background vocals, hooks or other detail to each song. As excited I was to hear Stevie Nicks’ feature on ‘Oil‘, her vocals are barely noticeable (being layered with Albarn’s). The only features I’d say accentuated the album were Bootie Brown on ‘New Gold‘, and Bad Bunny on ‘Tormenta’.
Cracker Island comes through with many achievable moments, as some of my favourite tracks from this album have stood out well for a band that have been releasing for more than 20 years now. For example, ‘New Gold‘ with Tame Impala & Bootie Brown was a very cool collab. Being a massive fan of Tame Impala, I was really excited to see what they had to deliver on this song; luckily enough I was able to see them premiere it last year in London at All Points East. This isn’t the biggest moment of the 5 singles they dropped before the album, but it does come across well, with psychedelic vocals from Kevin Parker and an exemplary rap verse from Bootie Brown himself. Furthermore, ‘Baby Queen‘ is a very relaxing tune with an interesting story Albarn has put together about his time when he met Thailand’s royal family in 1997: “The reason I’ve written a song about it is because I had a dream about this princess very recently; she’d grown up and we spent time in my dream together, her as a woman. So there you go: 1997 was a long time, but at the moment it’s not”. Being such a poignant song, this is Gorillaz pretty much encapsulated with such exquisite synths.
I must say this album doesn’t have many moments that weren’t great, however a personal one that I came across was on the track ‘Tarantula‘, as the mixing and choice of instruments didn’t sit well with me as a modern day 80s style song. Minus that this album overall is definitely one of their best they have released. Whilst it may not be Plastic Beach level, which I consider as one of my few ten-out-of-ten albums of all time, I do believe that people will come back to this album occasionally and recommend it to anyone who is just finding out about the band. Cracker Island is another great album by Gorillaz and I cannot wait to see what Albarn as well as Hewlett have in store in the future, including the Blur reunion tour happening this summer.
Rating – 8/10
