The world’s first and best cartoon band, Gorillaz, is soon to be back.
Outside of their 2012 single, ‘Do Ya Thing’, and other sporadic collaborations – this will be the first full length studio release since 2010’s phenomenal and acclaimed album Plastic Beach. Following rising tension between the duo over 2012 tours, Damon Albarn spoke publicly about the falling out and resulting Gorillaz hiatus.
However earlier this month, Albarn revealed to Rolling Stone that both he and Jamie Hewlett are working on a new Gorillaz album.
“I’m in the very early days on a new Gorillaz record. So far, it’s really fast, and it’s got quite a lot of energy. I’ve been stuck on piano, somewhere off Broadway theatre, for years now. I want to go somewhere completely opposite of that.”
Albarn said that the pair’s well publicised fall-out has helped their relationship in the long term. Hewlett confirmed to DIY that he had been locked away to work on Gorillaz’s fifth album. “I’m working on it at the moment, and it’s going very well,” he added. “I’m very excited. I don’t want to say too much about it, but I’m at that phase of experimentation.”
Newer iterations of the Gorillaz fictional counterparts known as 2D, Noodle, Murdoc and Russell Hobbs have been making appearances on Hewlett’s instagram account over the past several weeks, leading to much speculation from fans of a nearby release. Hewlett responded to one fan’s comments with “Yes, Gorillaz Returns”.
MC Del the Funky Homosapien has also been playing Gorillaz tracks at shows again, playing Clint Eastwood at Beach Goth and Bonnaroo recently and tweeted on the impending Gorillaz release that we would hope to be involved again.
@Damonalbarn played me some of the beats at Bonnaroo last year so we'll see what happens. Hoping so, sounding dope https://t.co/7BnPnsfZJ2
— DelTheFunkyHomosapie (@DelHIERO) July 16, 2015
We’ll of course keep you posted as news rolls in. But for now? It feels good.
– James McDonald
