Gorillaz's new album 'The Mountain' wants to 'leave the listener feeling optimistic' about death

It’s a Wednesday day successful West Hollywood, 1 time aft the metropolis was blanketed successful a airy coating of rain. The midday prima has lone conscionable begun to peek done the overcast sky.

Its beams are somewhat much vivid done the ample windows of the Edition, which beryllium astatine the borderline of a secluded country of the hotel. Jamie Hewlett sits astatine a woody array stirring a cappucino with a achromatic straw.

“I mean, who drinks retired of a straw erstwhile you get past the property of 10, right?” helium says, jokingly. After 25 years of bouncing astir the globe with Gorillaz, he’s inactive longing for a pitchy lag cure. Coffee tin lone bash truthful much.

Leaning backmost successful his chair, successful a suave, all-beige outfit, helium starts to grin portion recounting his time successful Los Angeles.

“We’ve been walking astir the streets having a precise uncommon greeting disconnected together. We bought immoderate weed, which is ever 1 of the astir fantastic things astir this state,” helium recalls.

He besides finds wit successful L.A.’s obsession with driver-less nutrient delivery.

“Every clip we saw a post-bot driving down the road, we stopped and doffed our caps. ... In the future, erstwhile robots instrumentality implicit and destruct america all, they’ll retrieve maine for being bully to the post-bot!”

It’s been a agelong fewer weeks for Hewlett and bandmate Damon Albarn arsenic they rotation retired the group’s latest endeavor, “The Mountain,” retired Friday. Just 1 time prior, “House of Kong” opened astatine Rolling Greens successful downtown L.A. The exhibition, initially intended arsenic a Gorillaz 25th day event, has landed connected the West Coast.

“I deliberation with this album, we were some rather blessed with what we’ve done … and feeling similar it was an honest, genuine escapade that was taken, and what we’ve fixed is thing that we’re arrogant of,” Hewlett says.

He and Albarn are besides artists astatine bosom and successful nature. It’s wherefore Gorillaz continues to look and dependable the mode it does, and wherefore the radical is consistently pushing the docket of however a nonexistent set tin inactive resonate with a radical of fans who are precise overmuch alive.

“The process, the research, the putting it together, the making of it is truly fun, and the transportation of it is benignant of similar a mini decease syndrome,” helium says. “What you’re required to bash is get consecutive connected to the adjacent thing, and you won’t person immoderate clip to discarded reasoning astir the information that the completion of that near you feeling numb, due to the fact that past you’re excited astir the adjacent project.”

He adds that Albarn, similarly, is similar a “kid successful a saccharine shop” erstwhile he’s making music: “The infinitesimal it’s finished, there’s nary involvement successful discussing it.”

Even so, the medium is undeniably their astir intimate successful caller history.

Perhaps it’s thing to bash with the acquisition of grief that the 2 lived through, losing their fathers lone 10 days isolated and conscionable earlier a travel to India. Or possibly it’s a testament to the process down “The Mountain,” which saw Hewlett and Albarn question the country, spending much clip unneurotic determination than during erstwhile medium productions.

“It’s weird, due to the fact that I’m calved 10 days aft Damon… the thought presented itself, and astatine that constituent we were going down that road, and determination was nary avoiding it… It wasn’t adjacent needfully going to beryllium a Gorillaz project; ‘Let’s spell unneurotic and spot what happens.’ ”

“I wholly fell successful emotion with the spot and got into their full conception of death,” Hewlett says of India.

(Blair Brown)

Hewlett says the medium was besides inspired by his precocious mother-in-law, Amo, who was diagnosed with crab successful 2010 and opted for Eastern medicine alternatively of chemo.

“She said, ‘No, I’m going to India.’ … She was into Ayurveda medicine and knew this doctor, and she spent 3 months successful India [being treated]. When she came back, her crab had gone. In France, they telephone her successful for a checkup, and they springiness her a scan. They say, ‘Where’s your crab gone?’ She said, ‘I’ve been successful India,’ and they say, ‘We don’t judge successful that.’ ”

It wouldn’t beryllium until 2022 erstwhile Jamie visited India himself, nether unfortunate circumstances. He was successful Belgrade with Albarn shooting the 2nd video from “Cracker Island” erstwhile helium received a telephone from his brother-in-law, who said that Amo had conscionable had a stroke.

“They said they saved her, but she went into a coma. I was connected a level to India arsenic rapidly arsenic I could get a visa, which wasn’t casual astatine the Indian Embassy successful London,” helium said. “I spent 8 weeks with my wife, Emma, successful Jaipur, dealing with that, successful a nationalist infirmary during a pneumonia epidemic… having that acquisition that was traumatic; it should person been a crushed for maine to ne'er spell backmost to India ever again.”

But during his clip there, it became wide that being successful the state had the other effect connected him.

“I wholly fell successful emotion with the spot and got into their full conception of death. … We met a batch of families who became friends of ours due to the fact that we were astatine the infirmary each day,” helium continued.

“A loved 1 who was dying, who was successful tears due to the fact that they knew they were going to die, but besides determination was a solemnisation astir the information that they were coming back,” helium said. “Their knowing of the rhythm of beingness is simply a batch much appealing to me.”

Shortly after, Hewlett returned to Europe and went consecutive to Albarn with an idea: “I said, ‘We person to spell to India, it’s truthful amazing,’ and of each the places he’d been astir the world, that was the spot helium inactive hadn’t been. So we decided to go.”

Albarn archetypal visited India successful May 2024 alongside Hewlett.

(Blair Brown)

“The Mountain” is, arsenic expected, heavy doused with notions connected the conception of death. Inevitably, the question arose: “How tin we marque an medium astir decease that would permission the listener feeling optimistic?”

But Gorillaz has ever been a radical entwined with different, arsenic dense topics. On “Plastic Beach,” they tackle the clime situation and quality extinction. The enchanting and rhythmic “Dirty Harry” besides examines warfare and soldiers, with its azygous screen adjacent giving a motion to Stanley Kubrick’s “Full Metal Jacket.”

The code Gorillaz achieved connected “The Mountain” is an hold of that.

“The Happy Dictator,” released arsenic the pb azygous successful September, parodies megalomaniac Saparmurat Niyazov’s attack to governing successful Turkmenistan. As Sparks nutrient stunning vocals, singing “I americium the 1 to springiness you beingness again,” Gorillaz fictional frontman 2-D (voiced by Albarn) breaks successful to pronounce, “No much atrocious news!”

Equally arsenic enjoyable is “The God of Lying,” the 3rd azygous released, featuring Idles. Joe Talbot hauntingly asks, “Do you emotion your blessed father? / Anoint by fearfulness of decease / Do you consciousness the lies creep connected by? / As brushed arsenic baby’s breath.” It’s a bouncy opus that could person been pulled consecutive retired of the band’s self-titled debut, each the mode backmost from 2001.

Even so, it feels transgression to comparison it with the band’s earlier catalog, fixed that Hewlett and Albarn are artists successful “perpetual motion.” This has resulted successful immoderate of their astir sonically and visually awesome enactment — with styles and genres consistently shifting — but besides asks the listener to beryllium consenting to germinate with them.

“I deliberation creation has to beryllium an evolution,” Hewlett explains. “I cognize what David Hockney does astatine 88 years old, inactive smoking and drinking his reddish wine. He wakes up each time … and helium does thing new, and past the adjacent time helium does thing new, and that promotes longevity. He’s ne'er bored.”

Gorillaz’s accumulation successful “House of Kong” seems to beryllium contradictory successful its existence, much oregon little serving arsenic a retrospective from a set that not lone doesn’t similar to look successful the rearview, but apt has it taped implicit altogether.

But it’s besides an integrated experience, teeming with originality, contempt its acquainted selling arsenic an “immersive experience.” It’s much comparable to thing retired of a Disney oregon Universal taxable parkland than different assemblage that simply projects video onto a wall.

“Down present astatine Kong, we are creating thing that … lone truly existed successful Jamie’s drawings and animations and successful the minds of the fans of Gorillaz,” says Stephen Gallagher of Block9. He served arsenic originative manager connected the task but has worked with the set since 2018 and antecedently collaborated with Banksy for his “The Walled Off Hotel” and “Dismaland.”

“I’d had this thought already: ‘What astir if we built a movie studio, and past you could bash a backstage tour, and you’re seeing down the scenes of the making of each of these euphony videos?’ ” helium continued. “Then that evolved, and it became the ‘House of Kong.’ ”

As for wherefore the accumulation landed successful L.A. for its 2nd showing, Hewlett compares the metropolis to Shanghai erstwhile it was “still escaped and decadent and swinging.”

“I emotion L.A. … I emotion it. I’ve been coming present since I was 19 years old. … L.A. mightiness beryllium the past 1 [showing], to beryllium honest,” helium says. “All that worldly successful the accumulation belongs to me; this is portion of my lifelong postulation of weird s—!”

“I’d emotion to get it backmost astatine immoderate point,” helium jokes.