The Mountain: A 25 Year Reflection of Gorillaz
Article by Herrick Swirbalus, University Union Editorial Board
Staff Writer | Photo by Jamie Hewlett via Instagram
Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett deliver one of the most emotionally coherent Gorillaz projects we’ve seen since the beginning of their career. As a long-time fan of the project, I’ve watched it grow. Everything from the music, the cartoon characters, and even the artists behind Gorillaz has developed almost like a foil to the band’s popularity. Since the very start, the project has been about rejecting false icons and questioning those in power, themes that have manifested differently across all nine Gorillaz albums. In The Mountain, Damon creates perhaps the most serene and cohesive Gorillaz album in years. With over 18 musical collaborators, this album stands as a humble yet significant step in the Gorillaz legacy as their ninth release.
The Mountain is an enriching journey around the world, featuring sounds primarily inspired by classical Indian music, Middle Eastern influences, Reggaeton, Afrobeats, and more. Damon Albarn is no stranger to incorporating global music into Gorillaz, but the sonic palette here is clearly inspired by his time exploring India while working on the record, along with his recent work with his African music collective, Africa Express. The album draws from a wide range of international music themes, incorporating traditional Indian instruments such as the sitar, bansuri flute, and tabla. The Mountain embraces what Gorillaz’ legacy has always thrived on: collaboration and acceptance. Among the many features, there are a few standout posthumous appearances from artists like Tony Allen, David Jolicoeur, Mark E Smith, and Dennis Hopper, all sampled from previous Gorillaz sessions. These inclusions reinforce the album’s central theme: mortality.
Both Damon and Jamie Hewlett have recently grieved the loss of their fathers, and The Mountain serves as an outlet for that grief. While the album tells a story of the album shaped by a wide artistic diaspora of cultures and voices, it ultimately allows for each listener to reflect on mortality and form their own meaning. Nearly double the length of Cracker Island (2023), this release gives the listener more space to sit with those emotions. Their travels and personal experiences not only signal a new Gorillaz era, but also result in what feels like the most refreshing sound and visual identity the project has delivered in years. So far, the rollout has included a 10-minute short film compiling the songs “The Mountain,” “The Moon Cave,” and “The Sad God.” In addition, Gorillaz have hosted “House of Kong” pop-ups, serving as immersive art spaces showcasing work featuring art from the past two decades of the project’s career, allowing both casual listeners and longtime fans to step deeper into the band’s universe.
Photo by Jamie Hewlett via Instagram
The music itself is one of the most exciting aspects of this new era. Not only do we see returning collaborators, but also a new roster of artists from countries that are rarely represented in mainstream Western markets. The Mountain is the first Gorillaz album to feature five distinct languages: English, Arabic, Hindi, Yoruba, and Spanish. The non-English performances are some of the album’s strongest moments, particularly on tracks like “Damascus” and Trueno’s verses on “The Manifesto.” These collaborations feel like the most genuine expressions of Gorillaz's identity. They even evoke the international scope of Demon Days and Plastic Beach, but with a new perspective as the Gorillaz image has matured since then.
While the Gorillaz sound has evolved with each era, The Mountain feels like a culmination of all the major influences that have given Gorillaz their signature sound. Songs like “Orange County” and “Delirium” highlight the dance-synth prowess Damon has picked up recording Gorillaz projects The Now Now and Cracker Island. This album is an incredible culmination of the styles Gorillaz has adopted from their collaborators. Damon works in a way where his compositions have personality but also bounce off the energy of any collaborators on the song. The music featured on The Mountain is an example of Damon’s inspiration for those who feature on the band’s songs, reinforcing Gorillaz’ core ethos of artistic exchange.
After finishing the short film released alongside the album, The Mountain sits a lot more comfortably in my vision as a proper Gorillaz era. The amount of interactive art and videos Damon and Jamie have already released in this album excites me for what we’re going to see on tour. Gorillaz just announced The Mountain Tour, where the band will be traveling across North America from September 17 in Orlando to October 31 in Seattle. As a longtime Gorillaz fan, it is incredibly moving to see Damon and Jamie so emotionally invested in the project. It’s relieving to see an artist with a platform as big as Gorillaz collaborating with so many global music influences. The Mountain is anything but self-centered. It tells the story of mortality and grief, a universal truth across the world, crafted entirely through human connection, and ultimately told by humans.
