Gorillaz – Demon Days

Description

Damon Albarnwent to great pains to explain that the first Gorillaz album was a collaboration between him, cartoonistJamie Hewlett, and producerDan the Automator, but any sort of pretense to having the virtual pop group seem like a genuine collaborative band was thrown out the window for the group’s long-awaited 2005 sequel, Demon Days.Hewlettstill provides new animation for Gorillaz — although the proposed feature-length film has long disappeared — butDan the Automatoris gone, leavingAlbarnas the unquestioned leader of the group.Gorillaz were always designed as a collective, featuring many contributors and producers, all shepherded byAlbarn, the songwriter, mastermind, and ringleader. Hiding behindHewlett’s excellent cartoons gaveAlbarnthe freedom to indulge himself, but it also gave him focus since it tied him to a specific concept. Throughout his career,Albarnalways was at his best when writing in character — to the extent that anytime he wrote confessionals inBlur, they sounded stagy — and Gorillaz not only gave him an ideal platform, it liberated him, giving him the opportunity to try things he couldn’t within the increasingly dour confines ofBlur.Demon Days is as theatrically foreboding as its title, one of the few pop records made since 9/11 that captures the eerie unease of living in the 21st century.Albarn is assured and masterful on Demon Days, regaining his flair for grand gestures that served him so well at the height of Britpop, yet tempering his tendency to overreach by keeping the music lean and evocative through his enlistment of electronica maverickDanger Mouseas producer.

Along the way, cameos float in and out of the slipstream andAlbarnrelies on several familiar tricks:the Specialsare a touchstone, brooding minor key melodies haunt the album, there are some singalong refrains, while a celebrity recites a lyric (this time, it’sDennis Hopper). Instead of sounding like musical crutches, this sounds like an artist who knows his strengths and uses them as an anchor so he can go off and explore new worlds. Chief among the strengths thatAlbarnrelies upon is his ability to find collaborators who can articulate his ideas clearly and vividly.Danger Mouse, whoseGrey Albummash-up ofthe BeatlesandJay-Zwas an underground sensation in 2004, gives this music an elasticity and creeping darkness than infects even such purportedly lighthearted moments as “Feel Good Inc.” It’s a sense of menace that’s reminiscent of primeHappy Mondays, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that one of the highlights of Demon Days isShaun Ryder’s cameo on the tight, deceptively catchy “Dare.” Over a tightly wound four minutes, “Dare” exploitsRyder’s iconic Mancunian thug persona within territory that belongs to the Gorillaz — its percolating beat not too far removed from “19/2000” — and that’s what makes it a perfect distillation of Demon Days: by letting other musicians take center stage and by sharing credit withDanger Mouse,Damon Albarnhas created an allegedly anonymous platform whose genius ultimately and quite clearly belongs to him alone.

All the themes and ideas on this album have antecedents in his previous work, but surrounded by new collaborators, he’s able to present them in a fresh, exciting way. And he has created a monster album here — not just in its size, but in its Frankenstein construction. It not only eclipses the first Gorillaz album, which in itself was a terrific record, but stands alongside the bestBluralbums, providing a tonal touchstone for this decade the wayParklifedid for the ’90s. While it won’t launch a phenomenon the way that 1994 classic did —Albarnis too much a veteran artist for that and the music is too dark and weird — Demon Days is still one hell of a comeback forDamon Albarn, who seemed perilously close to forever disappearing into his own ego. via AllMusic

Label: Parlophone
Format: 2 x Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Repress
Reissued: 2024 / Original Release: 2005
Genre: Electronic, Hip Hop, Rock
Style: Leftfield, Trip Hop, Pop Rap

File under: School of Rock