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Gorillaz confront grief with Indian music greats on new album

In sound, concept, and artwork, the new Gorillaz album was inspired by India. (Supplied: Jamie Hewlett)

In Western cultures, death is typically treated as linear. A one-way ticket to finality.

Conversely, the Hindu concept of Samsara treats it as a transition in an endless, cyclical journey of birth, death and rebirth.

It's a belief that underpins the latest project from Gorillaz — the brainchild of Blur frontman Damon Albarn and graphic artist Jamie Hewllett, who've always loved a concept.

Their latest? The Mountain, the virtual group's ninth studio album, which shifts their signature genre-bending, star-studded global pop to India.

"Having a location seems to work quite well for us," Hewlett tells Double J's Karen Leng.

Gorillaz: The Mountain Album Review

The idea had been for Damon Albarn and Gorillaz co-creator Jamie Hewlett to renew their creative vows by embarking on some “classic Indian odysseys.” Between their two trips to the country, however, the assignment changed shape. In the space of 10 days, both men’s fathers died, and the second visit took on an air of somber pilgrimage. Albarn swam in the Ganges, scattered his father’s ashes into its mythology. Somewhere along the way, he settled on a concept for The Mountain, the follow-up to 2023’s pallid Cracker Island. As well as recruiting a suite of classical Indian musicians, he would raid his archives for unreleased recordings by deceased Gorillaz collaborators, enacting a convocation of souls.

See Gorillaz's Tribute to Classic Cartoon Movies Like 'The Jungle Book' in New Animated Short

In Gorillaz‘s new short film, The Mountain, the Moon Cave and the Sad God, characters 2D, Russel, Noodle, and Murdoc are on a journey through an Indian landscape that looks a lot like The Jungle Book, complete with a googly-eyed python and a menacing tiger, as they queue up for the unveiling of a spectacular mountain view. The clip coincides with the arrival of the band’s ninth album, The Mountain.

As the title suggests, the clip fuses together three songs from the record: the Indian-influenced “The Mountain” and indie-rock-cum-hip-hop (aka Gorillaz-like) “The Moon Cave,” which open the album, and “The Sad God,” which closes the LP. Musicians featured on the three tracks include Bobby Womack, Anoushka Shankar, and the late De La Soul MC Trugoy the Dove.

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