Gorillaz - Cracker Island - The Singles, Reviewed

Gorillaz - Cracker Island - The Singles, Reviewed

In the last 20 years, Gorillaz (masterminded by British rock royalty Damon Albarn and cartoonist Jamie Hewlett, and now joined by musician Remi Kabaka Jr.), have proved themselves to be one of the best, most stylistically diverse and well respected pop acts of the 21st century, with hit upon hit upon hit to their name and a fantastic original trilogy of albums, with self-titled in 2001, ‘Demon Days’ in 2005 and my personal favourite, ‘Plastic Beach’ in 2010. However, the majority of their post ‘Plastic Beach’ output has been met mostly with an apathetic shrug from both critics and fans. Although they did make a serious comeback with their multimedia music video series/album ‘Song Machine Season One’ in 2020. So of course, the hope is that their upcoming album, ‘Cracker Island’, releasing on February 24th, can continue this winning streak. So let’s have a look at the singles, and see whether it does.

Cracker Island (Ft. Thundercat)

This opening single really is a great display of Gorillaz songwriting prowess and utilisation of guests. Both new and retro, this song offers a revitalised take on that classic disco sound. With a chunky, danceable beat, nice additions of percussion, as well as some super catchy synth melodies and touches of funky guitar, this song shows Gorillaz really have not lost it when it comes to crafting great, colourful, and unique pop songs. Damon’s (or 2D’s) vocals only add to the track’s catchiness, delivering a mostly laid back yet still highly infectious and characterful performance which works very well indeed. And of course we can’t discuss this track without mentioning the contributions of one Thundercat, who not only gives the track a brilliantly deep, groovy bassline, but also provides some great backing vocals, acting as the perfect counterpoint to Damon’s. What more could you want from a Gorillaz track? Danceable, colourful, well-written, catchy, great guest contributions, thoroughly enjoyable all round.

Silent Running (Ft. Adele Omotayo)

This fifth and likely final single is probably the most outwardly poppy of the singles, but that’s not a bad thing. The whole track has a very nocturnal disco/synth pop sound which serves it very well. A hefty, infectious disco beat, subtle, tasteful funk guitars, deep bass and colourful washes of 80s synths give it a really cool sound, quite reminiscent of ‘Random Access Memories’ era Daft Punk, certainly a compliment. I also think that the grand piano progressions throughout lend further to the nocturnal yet catchy vibe of the track, while also possessing an air of melancholy characteristic of this album cycle. The same could be said vocally, with Damon delivering yet another emotionally fragile, vulnerable, yet incredibly melodic and catchy performance, and guest vocalist Adele Omotayo providing some great ethereal and dramatic flourishes. Lyrically it’s really nice too, not only playing into the album’s narrative of relationships and cult dynamics (yes, really), but also touching on topics such as the damaging, all consuming nature of social media/internet addiction. However, it’s not done in the tacky, bash-you-over-the-head way you might expect, but approached with the same tact, character and uniqueness with which ‘Plastic Beach’ addressed its environmental concerns. Probably the most pop leaning single so far, but the results are just as brilliant as what came before.

New Gold (Ft. Tame Impala and Bootie Brown)

This track, as you can probably tell from the features, is a lot more of a summery, shiny hip-hop cut, and goes over pretty well in my opinion. Instrumentally this thing is really kaleidoscopic which is nice. A cool, infectious disco beat, washes of atmospheric, bright keyboards, some extra almost g-funk synth leads, and an almost Caribbean influence with the bongo backing beat. So there’s a ton of stuff going on, but it results in a very fun, very animated hip-hop track. Of course the other crucial element of the track is its vocals, although they can be a little hit or miss occasionally. Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker does a solid job on the chorus, delivering his trademark airy croon atop the layers of synthesisers, and while I wish his contributions were a little more substantial, Damon holds down the fort pretty well with a subtly melancholic performance on the bridge. Although obviously the main star of this track is rapper Bootie Brown, and given he delivered such a great verse on ‘Dirty Harry’ back in 2005, why wouldn’t you be excited? And he does have some really good moments here, with a nice, confident, laid back delivery, intriguing lyrics on the pitfalls of the modern world, and a decent sung performance in the pre-chorus. But his appearance is brought down slightly by some awkwardly timed flows (perhaps to do with the time signature), as well as some of his lyrical imagery and references coming across a little too off the wall for me to really get to grips with. So overall certainly a pretty strong showing, just with a few nitpicks here or there.

Baby Queen

Musically, the first solo Gorillaz track from the project is a bit of a stylistic throwback to the ‘Plastic Beach’ days, with a slow paced, yet funky hip-hop beat, laden with atmospheric layers of keyboards, guitars and strings that have a very heavenly effect. It sounds really cool, think ‘Lost Chord’ mixed with ‘Melancholy Hill.’ To complement this, Damon delivers a kind of brilliantly melodic, melancholic, earnest vocal performance seen on many great Gorillaz tracks, and it goes over just as well here, being as captivating as ever. My only real quibble is with the lyrics. It’s reportedly inspired by a visit the Princess of Thailand made to see Blur in 1997, how much of a big fan she was, and how Damon had a dream about them reuniting and hanging out, which for all intents and purposes is a pretty heartwarming story. But I don’t think you can hold it against me for being a bit put off by lyrics like, “you've grown up, baby queen, in my dreams.” Let me put it this way, I think any lyric that requires people to Google the backstory to a song to investigate their possible dodginess, probably isn’t a good idea to write in the first place. So while musically it’s very enjoyable, and thematically the intent and the earnesty was there, maybe the lyrics could have done with being checked over once or twice first to avoid a few possible misconceptions.

Skinny Ape

This fourth single from the group is arguably the most multifaceted of the four, not only musically but also lyrically. Musically it covers a lot of ground, from the country-esque guitars and ethereal vocal harmonies in the intro, to the semi hip-hop, psychedelic, glitchy, electronic verses, to the dream pop inspired chorus, and all culminating in a fast paced, vibrant dance rager characterised by colourful walls of synths and a breakneck beat, this is easily the most boundary pushing and experimental track of the four released so far, and is all the more enjoyable. Of course Damon delivers a great, earnest, dramatic and emotional vocal performance, that is supplemented by perhaps the most self-aware set of lyrics I’ve heard from Gorillaz, (“don’t be sad for me, I’m a cartoon G”), all of which lends to the track’s flooring sense of creativity. I don’t think much more needs to be said, just a great, genre-bending, boundary pushing, experimental Gorillaz track with a great vocal performance, and one that manages to do so many different things without losing its pop appeal

So, after hearing these singles, do I think the album will live up to their renewed reputation in the wake of Song Machine? Well I see no reason why not, the singles we’ve got show Gorillaz in my opinion at pretty much the top of their game. Maybe it’s not absolute 10/10’s across the board, but pretty close. Obviously ‘Song Machine’ was very very good and so creating a successful follow up is very difficult, and while it may be a close run thing, it’s certainly on the cards.