At this point in their career, Gorillaz are masters of their own universe, whichever universe they choose to traverse that day. The animated band has garnered a reputation of being largely undefinable, shifting from one sonic direction to the next while still adding their own personal touch to everything that falls through their fingers in order to keep any definition at a distance. The band has the ability to take a single idea or note and build entire concepts and worlds around it, making for an immersive listening experience and bringing you a little closer to Gorillaz’s otherworldly soundscapes. On their latest release, Cracker Island, the band continues to dive headfirst into entirely new worlds and this time around, it’s more scenic than ever.
The world the band introduces to us on Cracker Island is vibrant and lush. The Gorillaz leaned on bold synths and neck-snapping tempos as the foundation for the LP, creating arrangements that sound just as fitting on a beach as they do at a silent disco in the forest. These instrumentals bounce and groove and see the band looking towards a more danceable side to the electronic elements that always seem to pop up on a Gorillaz album. Even the more ballad-centric songs like “Baby Queen” are able to keep an infectious rhythm to them, allowing the tracklist to change gears without seeming removed from the concept of the album. There is always some underlying narrative to a Gorillaz album, and this plot is lined with sugary pop tracks that use their dream-like textures to paint vibrant scenes that place you right in the middle of the story.
The concept of the album seems to follow the leader of a new-found cult and the story of this person retreating with his many followers to Cracker Island. While the story is pushed by the band’s playing and the mood changes throughout the tracklist indicate character arcs, the lyrics on the album are not to be forgotten. Head songwriter of the group Damon Albarn pieced together some terrific moments lyrically that help fuel the concept of the album while still coming off as vaguely poetic, in the best way possible. His ability to fully immerse himself as this character makes the feelings and emotions of this fictional cult leader all the more real and allows Albarn to pen hooks and verses that blur the lines of reality. A song like “Silent Running” is one of the more straightforward moments on the album, a seemingly perfect exploration into pop hits for Albarn. On the other side, you have a moment like “Skinny Ape” that feels so vulnerable and tormented despite the fact it’s coming from the perspective of a cult leader hopeful. Albarn’s ability to visualize these scenarios and characters creates potent songwriting moments that build the concept of the album without surrendering himself to it.
One of the more impressive elements of Gorillaz’s discography is their choice of features and how they deploy them in the music. The Gorillaz approach collaboration better than most, instead of building the song around the feature they find ways to create characters in their universe for the guest verses, creating a more organic sound regardless of which genre the artist dwells in. The collaborations on Cracker Island further emphasize this point, only to a certain degree though. Hearing the signature falsettos of Thundercat paired with Albarn’s gruff aggression and colorful vision for the instrumental on the album’s title track made for one of the most memorable moments on the project. Listening to Stevie Nicks drop in and out of harmonies on “Oil” felt celebratory and added an extra layer of beauty to the dancing keys played on the song. While every collaboration on the album pairs well with the sonic structure of the LP, moments like “Tormenta” with Bad Bunny feel forced with its island-flavored instrumental feeling a little too catered to the all-star feature.
On Cracker Island, Gorillaz created an altered reality and made it feel more believable than the room you’re sitting in. They executed the concept masterfully while still creating songs that can be recontextualized and interpreted differently from one person to the next. Through bright, life-like melodies that bleed together to create these dense walls of sonic plush, the band navigates these arrangements with needlepoint precision. Allowing themselves to become fully engulfed by their own creation created a creative energy that bursts through the LP, conjuring up a listening experience that requires you to close your eyes and surrender to the uncompromising vision of Gorillaz.
