It’s been less than a year since Damon Albarn and his virtual band Gorillaz have released any new music. Meanwhile was released last August after Albarn and co. presented 3 new tracks at a free concert at London’s O2 arena exclusively to an audience of NHS workers to show gratitude for their work during the pandemic. But, since the beginning of the project – “don’t let them know your next move” – seems to have been the mantra in mind. That being said, mid-way through an extensive world tour… we have the promise of new music! You can see the snippet released to the band’s socials below.
“Cracker Island” premiered in Uruguay a while back and the live performance didn’t have any special features, but the backing track (and massive visuals in the background) confirms that the studio version has some musical and vocal additions from everyone’s favourite prog-R&B bassist Thundercat. The same show also premiered another new track called “Silent Running”, but so far, no information on a studio recording has come to light. You can watch a fan-shot recording of the new track below.
Perhaps this new track (or probable series of tracks) will be released in conjunction with the “Full-length Gorillaz film” we were promised by Albarn at the tail end of last year. In a conversation with Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1, Albarn explained, “It’s something we’ve been wanting to do for a very long time. It’s been through so many incarnations. Gorillaz doing a movie. Honestly. But Netflix, I don’t know. I mean, apart from the kind of running this city now, I mean – It’s just extraordinary to see how ubiquitous they are now. Yeah. They just seem like they’re a good creative team, you know? But I can’t say anything more about it, obviously, because… No, no, no.” So, with very little information revealed on the subject being revealed since… could this be the start? Or maybe just something else entirely.
As mentioned before, Gorillaz are currently in the middle of a massive world tour. They are currently working on the European leg with a number of arena and festival dates all over the continent. While the UK leg of the tour is all but over, the group will be returning to London’s All Points East Festival on August 19th for 1 final date before moving on to North America. You can bag what few tickets may remain to the show here.
