Gorillaz - Song Machine Season One: Strange Timez (Review)
Gorillaz return with their best album in 10 years...
23rd October 2020
Parlophone
My Rating:
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8.1
/10
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REVIEW
Gorillaz are back once again, continuing their run of quick turnaround albums and following a mere two years on from their last album, the thoroughly underwhelming The Now Now, a record that not only lacked in star power, but also in ideas. It's an album often compared with The Fall, another more lowkey Gorillaz album, but for me the comparisons end there - say what you want about The Fall, it wasn't short on ideas, even with its lofi aesthetics. No, The Now Now was the sound of Gorillaz stagnating, and I'm grateful that Damon Albarn seems to have returned to what made Gorillaz special on older albums here on Song Machine Season One. What I didn't expect was a developed concept, slick structure and the kind of sonic exploration Gorillaz haven't achieved in a decade or more.
Across this album, Damon Albarn proves that Gorillaz can still work, not to mention enthral, twenty years into their career, the last two albums' game of catchup over, the virtual band now reasserting themselves as pioneers, genre blending and norm defying. Across the course of the eleven songs that comprise this album's standard version, and perhaps demonstrated with more variety still on the deluxe version, Gorillaz hop between genres, weaving between a diverse selection of guest artists that are talented yes, but well integrated, something that unfortunately couldn't be said of their last ambitious project, the sprawling mess of Humanz, charming as that album could be.
No, here on Strange Timez, the songs mesh surprisingly well together, each guest artist featuring purposefully placed, delivering their A game but never forcing a song onto a disjointed section, their direction in unison with Damon's, and the production slick as ever, from the gorgeous restraint of island-rock intricacy on "Désolé", to the boggling, intergalactic weirdness of the titular "Strange Timez", a song featuring the earnest vocals of The Cure's Robert Smith, a grounding presence on the song that personally sells it for me.
If I have one main gripe with the album, it's probably that they left some of the weirder tracks for the deluxe version, with songs like "Opium" providing some of the building grandeur that the band really haven't explored fully since Demon Days. Another highlight from the deluxe version is "With Love To An Ex", my personal favourite track, its dark, looming vibe somewhat reminiscent of Massive Attack's "Sly", only with a focus on an Afro-Middle Eastern inspired sound palette that's nothing like either Gorillaz or Moonchild Sanelly, the featured vocalist here, have released before.
I would love for Gorillaz' next release to hone in on the weirdness, an aspect of the music that I believe could compensate for the lack of organic production and grit that helped them create their best music, seeing as Damon doesn't seem interested in returning to that style of production. To keep their next album short whilst exploring some longer songs could also be a great decision, taking longer to explore each of the wonderful sound palettes Damon is able to come up with.
TRACK RATINGS (/10)
1. Strange Timez - 8
2. The Valley of the Pagans - 8
3. The Lost Chord - 9
4. Pac-Man - 8
5. Chalk Tablet Towers - 6
6. The Pink Phantom - 4
7. Aries - 8
8. Friday 13th - 4
9. Dead Butterflies - 7
10. Désolé - 9
11. Momentary Bliss - 7
DELUXE
1. Opium - 7
2. Simplicity - 5
3. Severed Head - 7
4. With Love To An Ex - 10
5. MLS - 8
6. How Far? - 7
BREAKDOWN
Ambition: 8
Atmosphere: 7
Catchiness/Enjoyability: 9
Content/Ideas: 9
Emotion/Engaging: 8
Execution: 8
Production: 9
Structure: 7
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Lyrics: 8
Vocals/Flows: 8
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Total: 81
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