Album Review: Humanz by Gorillaz

After six years since the last Gorillaz album, Damon Albarn returns with an album to save 2017; Humanz. It's an apocalypse playlist and he knows it, but he wants the world to know too.

Cover Art for Humanz

The first song, Ascension, pulls listeners in with a solid backing beat and fast melody, but Vince Staples' passionate and scathing lyrics about his life as a black man in America quickly give listeners a shot of reality. Let Me Out features equally dark lyrics, playing with religious imagery and touchy subjects in Trump's America. Interestingly, in both songs curse words are left in but the words "Obama", "Trump", and "together", are censored out; a comment on the lack of political discourse in America now.

Ascension Music Video

To cool off, there's Andromeda. Again, strong bass pairs well with synthy notes to make a well-balanced song. We Got The Power fits in nicely here as well. The whole song is about empowering people to love each other. It's a really happy song that's meant to lift people up and helps to break up the more political songs.

I think the big vibe I get from this particular album is that it's one massive dance party. The world's ending, so what? Momentz perfectly captures this. The lyrics are a bit crude but it's all about living in the moment and appreciating the little things, and I think De La Soul is reminding us that we might be running out of time to do that.

Out Of Body has the same sentiment, but in a completely different way. The surreal voice of Kilo Kish complements the dial-up tones in the intro, making for a song that takes you away to the wild party she's talking about.

On a similarly haunting level is Carnival. One thing that immediately draws my attention is the drums and the synergy which they have with Anthony Hamilton. The drums are strong, heavy, and become the star of the show during the pauses. A lot of artists try to have a stop-start theme and end up making their songs sound broken or uncoordinated, but Carnival pulls it off really well. The pauses are excellently timed and get listeners into the groove of the drums. Another feature that I picked up on is actually the lack of sound. There's two electric riffs, the drums, and the vocals. That's it. Carnival takes advantage of that by letting silence be an instrument too.

While pretty much every song on the album has some sort of political connotation, Hallelujah Money is a very obvious statement directed right at Trump. It clearly references the wall he proposed on the US/Mexico border and compares it to a unicorn. In doing this, the fantasy and glorification of the wall are implied by likening it to a fictional beast, which is a pretty big knock to Trump. His promise to build the wall quickly became a disaster as he realised that not only could he not afford it, but also had no plan on how to go about doing it. It’s been looked over in favour of louder, faster, poppier songs, but Hallelujah Money is laughing at Trump in a way the other political music doesn’t do.

Hallelujah Money Music Video

There's something I haven't talked about yet though. The interludes. The first one, The Non-conformist Oath, is actually a recording of a skit by Steve Martin, and is intentionally ironic by showing that if everyone tries to be different we just create a new normal. Elevator Going Up and Penthouse are about the story of the album, adding theme and continuing the Gorillaz arc. In Talk Radio, you only hear bits and pieces from one side of a conversation, implying that they know something you don't. The Elephant is actually really interesting; Initially it seems to be just a laugh, however there are underlying metaphors; the Elephant symbolises the Republican Party, as it is their symbol, and the confetti is a metaphor for the unsubstantial fake news which was 'thrown out' widely throughout the American election. The New World could be talking about America, but another theory is that the lyrics are the vocalist having their life flash before their eyes and the title being heaven or the afterlife. Either way, it's seriously creepy and I love it.

All in all, Humanz is poignant and witty. It’s full of songs that’ll charge you up, weird you out, and leave you with more questions than answers, but it sure is one hell of a ride.

By Val Farquhar