It's like a spiritual retreat led by a cartoon band and a sitar orchestra.
A sprawling, spiritual meditation that finds transcendence within modern despair.
The Mountain marks a significant 'paradigm shift' for Gorillaz, serving as their ninth studio album and a culmination of Damon Albarn's growing interest in global fusion and operatic structures. Recorded largely in New Delhi following Albarn's work on his second opera, the album integrates Indian classical music - specifically through the contributions of Anoushka Shankar and Asha Bhosle - with the band's signature trip-hop and art-pop foundations. The production team, including James Ford and Remi Kabaka Jr., utilized actual film scans and double-exposure techniques in the visual components to mirror the 'dusty' and 'grainy' sonic palette of the music. Notably, the album features a heavy emphasis on legacy, incorporating posthumous performances from Tony Allen and De La Soul's David Jolicoeur, turning the record into a meditation on grief and renewal. Critics have hailed it as their most cohesive work since Plastic Beach, noting its successful synthesis of six different languages and its bold, reflective tone.
Put this on for
Incense smoke curling toward the ceiling while the world stays quietHeadphones on during a long flight over a sleeping continentThat heavy silence after a funeral when you finally start to breatheStaring into a campfire until the embers look like city lights3am research rabbit hole that turned into a spiritual crisisRain streaking the window of a train moving through the mountainsDust motes dancing in a single beam of afternoon light
Moments worth waiting for
The transition in 'The Manifesto' where Black Thought's rapid-fire verse dissolves into Anoushka Shankar's soaring sitar melody.
The chilling moment in 'The Moon Cave' where a grainy, archival recording of Dennis Hopper speaks over a skeletal drum machine.
The final three minutes of 'The Sad God' where six different languages layer into a massive, choral wall of sound.
Sounds like
2026s production with a 2020s soul
Sits beside
Landfall - Laurie Anderson, A Moon Shaped Pool - Radiohead, Migration - Bonobo, Love in Exile - Arooj Aftab
Lyrical territory
spirituality, grief, existential
03Deviation
The Mountain · vs · Gorillaz
Artist
This Album
Medium Energy
Energy · ↓ −10% less than usual
On this album, medium energy sits about 10% less prominent than across the rest of the artist's catalogue.