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Damon Albarn

An English musician born in 23rd of March 1968 in Leytonstone, East London.

First Steps

His mother, Hazel Albarn worked as a stage designer for Joan Littlewood's theatre company at the Theatre Royal Stratford East in London and was working on Mrs Wilson's Diary just before Damon was born. Damon's father, an artist Keith Albarn was mainly involved in TV arts programming and was interested in designing and making modern furniture. He eventually became the manager of art jazz-rock group Soft Machine. Hazel Albarn came from Lincolnshire and Keith Albarn from Nottinghamshire. When they had met each other, they decided to move to London to experience its wide cultural-scene. So Damon came in contact with music from the first day of his life, and never walked out of it. When Damon was growing up, his parents listened mostly to old blues, Indian ragas and African music. Damon didn't apparently like much of them. His sister, Jessica, also an artist, was born in 1971.

Damon was a relatively normal child. He was keen on football and his room was filled with the fossils. Since the age of six he has been wearing the glass beads, which he got from his mother. "They give me luck" he has later said. He was attending the George Tomlinson Primary School and at the later age moved to the Stanway Comprehensive School.

Ten years after Damon's birth Albarns moved to Colchester, Essex, where Keith Albarn had got a new job. Around the time of moving Damon was spending three months in Turkey with family friends. When he came back he began studying violin and piano and got interested in drama. Because of his unconventional background he was considered weird and vain and often got called "posh stroke gay" at Stanway Comprehensive. "I was weirdo", he recalls. At the time he was really keen on drama and took part in many school plays and quickly became one of the school's "stars". Damon was also interested in composing music and one of his compositions won a heat in the nationwide Young Composer of the Year competition. He has later claimed that classical composer Kurt Weill's music had a more effect on his musical development than any pop song writer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJKZyZCIYII&list=PLwDQF_pE3sOW0CEoiFkhpiX1Kd8-rejcP

Beginning of the Creation

At the age of 12 Damon met a year younger Graham Coxon. "Your brogues are crap, mate. Look, mine are the proper sort” were Damon's exact first words to Graham. They both liked The Jam, The Human League, XTC and Madness and soon became the best friends.

One of the first bands Damon was involved along with Graham was The Aftermath, which didn't get anywhere. The Aftermath's follower was Real Lives, where Damon was on the vocals and played the piano. The band made a few appearances in local pubs and clubs without any real success.

In the mid-eighties Damon lost his interest to music temporary, concentrated wholly in drama, and moved to Debden to study at the East 15 Drama School. After a year he thought he was "the worst actor in the world" and decided to go back home. At the time he was very depressed and having a bad time. He took a part-time music course at the Goldsmiths College in South London, where he met Graham again and worked as a barman in London's Portobello Hotel. Later, he worked at the Le Croissaint at Euston Station in London and soon after as a tea boy at the Beat Factory studio, owned by Graeme Holdaway. At nights, he worked on his music at the studio.

Blur

With the help of the Beat Factory he got involved in an odd synth-band called Two's A Crowd with Sam Vamplew. After writing a few songs, Damon withdrew the band and joined Circus in 1988. Circus was formed initially by Damon's college friend Tom Aitkenhead and Eddie Deedigan, who both quit the band later. Soon guitarist Graham Coxon, drummer Dave Rowntree and finally bassist Alex James were picked up to Circus. Due to Damon's accelerated musical development, Circus experienced many radical musical changes. The band evolved into Seymour, which later changed its name to Blur.

Blur were formed and signed with Food/EMI in 1989.

Announcing their arrival with debut album Leisure in 1991,

Birthday

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGFa5_wdRsU ~ Birthdays are generally supposed to be happy celebrations but the lyricist doesn’t view things this way; it only reminds him of age and dying, it’s sort of ironic how actually when you think about it, we celebrate our deaths rather than our births.

Blur continued to revolutionise the sound of English popular music with second release Modern Life Is Rubbish (1993).

Miss America

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maflDjy9dLU ~ Damon Albarn, an outspoken critic of celebrity culture, has an uncanny talent for imagining figurative characters. On ‘Miss America’, he makes a criticism on the commodification of beauty. Miss America herself wears a label and is an artificial champion for American women, especially because modern life is rubbish.

Five successive UK #1 albums followed - with Parklife (1994)

Parklife

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSuHrTfcikU ~ “I came up with the idea for this song in this park. I was living on Kensington Church Street, and I used to come into the park at the other end, and I used to, you know, watch people, and pigeons…” said Damon Albarn

and The Great Escape (1995) helping to propel the band to mass popularity in the UK and beyond.

Ernold Same

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-3_VVcwwaY ~ A straightforward song about the mundanity of modern life, probably referencing Arnold Layne (Pink Floyd’s first single). On some versions of the album The Great Escape, an instrumental reprise of ‘Ernold Same’ appears as a secret track at the end.

The eponymous Blur was released in 1997

Song 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSbBvKaM6sk ~ This song is totally unlike all of Blur’s other songs. It’s actually supposed to be making fun of grunge and some suggest the “WOO HOO!” is a parody of the iconic American Homer Simpson.

and seventh album Think Tank (2003) was Blur’s first as a three-piece after the temporary departure of founding guitarist Graham Coxon.

Out Of Time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRkX1Up1vnc ~ The song is a bass-driven track with minimal drums and acoustic guitar accompanied by eastern and orchestral flourishes. The faint screaming noise at the start of the track is a sound clip from Doctor Who. Since the 2009 reunion, the song has been a staple of Blur’s live sets, albeit in a slightly different arrangement featuring Coxon playing electric guitar.

One of the most successful British bands of the last two decades, Blur have won a total of five BRIT Awards, and were twice nominated for the Mercury Music Award.

In 2009 Blur reconvened as a four-piece to play a series of UK shows including two sold out dates at Hyde Park and a historic Sunday night appearance at Glastonbury. A film about Blur No Distance Left To Run was made that summer and released the following year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gN3rdPyjaGY

In 2012 the band received a BRIT Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music and wrote two news songs ahead of their massive sold out show in London's Hyde Park to mark the closing of the Olympic Games. The songs 'The Puritan' and 'Under The Westway' were debuted live on Twitter via a worldwide video stream from a London rooftop. And twenty one years after the release of their debut album, 2012 also saw Blur 21: The Box, the band's body of work compiled and gathered together into one box.

Beetlebum

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAXnqjUfal4 ~ Damon Albarn has confessed that the song is about heroin and the drug experiences he had with his then-girlfriend, Justine Frischmann of Elastica. In the 2010 Blur documentary, No Distance Left to Run, Albarn confirmed this notion on film. The song’s title is a reference to the phrase “Chasing the beetle” which refers to inhaling the smoke from heated heroin, morphine, or opium that has been placed on a piece of tin-foil. Albarn has stated in an interview with MTV that the song describes a complicated emotion, sort of “sleepy” and sort of “sexy”.

The band embarked on a 30 plus date world tour in 2013 which saw them play to fans around the globe, with shows across Asia, Europe, South America, as well as a headline slot at the Coachella Festival in California.

The recordings for the band’s eighth studio album began in Spring 2013 at Avon Studios in Kowloon. Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Alex James and Dave Rowntree spent 5 days jamming together and carried on with their live dates while the recordings were put aside and the group finished touring and returned to their respective lives. Dave resumed his day job as a lawyer and Alex returned home to his farm in Oxfordshire from where he writes a regular farming column in The Telegraph and hosts the annual food and music festival The Big Feastival with Jamie Oliver. Graham, who has released eight critically acclaimed solo albums to date, continued to work on his own material and, in 2014, Damon released his Mercury-nominated debut solo album Everyday Robots.

Then, in November last year, Graham revisited the tracks and, drafting in Blur’s early producer Stephen Street (Leisure, Modern Life is Rubbish, Parklife, The Great Escape, Blur), he worked with the band on the material. Damon then added lyrics and the 12 tracks on The Magic Whip is the result.

The new album from Blur, titled The Magic Whip, started life in Hong Kong when the band had an unexpected break in touring in May 2013. It is released by Parlophone Records on 27rd April 2015 - 16 years since 13, the band’s last record as a four-piece.

Go Out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sp1ks7PTzng ~ “It wasn’t a jolly, winking, overfamiliar Blur thing. I realize that a lot of people love below because of those songs, and lots of people hate them because of it, and people from the camp who hate us probably don’t know much about the other stuff that we did. ‘Go Out’ struck me as being somewhere between the two – it’s sort of casual sounding, but it’s also quite powerful. For me, it felt like a place that we hadn’t really done before: it’s mildly familiar because of Damon’s voice, but sonically is quite different from anything we’ve done before.” Graham Coxon

Gorillaz

Gorillaz are a virtual band, comprised of four fictional animated band members: 2D (voiced by Blur vocalist Damon Albarn, and plays keyboard and sings lead vocals), Murdoc (bass), Noodle (lead guitar and occasional vocals) and Russel (drums and percussion). The band was created by Damon Albarn from the Britpop band Blur, and Jamie Hewlett, the co-creator of the comic book Tank Girl.

Gorillaz music videos follow the adventures of the band members, so the music is written around the concept of them being within a certain environment for each album. The band’s music is a collaboration between various musicians; Albarn being the only permanent musical contributor. They style is broadly alternative rock, but with a large number of other influences - to quote one of their lyrics, they have recorded everything from "Rap, Hip-Hop, to Punk, and Ska".

They originally identified themselves under the name "Gorilla", and the first song they recorded was ‘Ghost Train’ (1999), later released as a ‘B-side’ on their single Rock the House and G-Sides.

Ghost Train

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YXbG5UKN_g The band's first release was the EP Tomorrow Comes Today, released in 2000. It was very well received in the UK underground music scene and generated a lot of word-of-mouth advertising, as well as a large shroud of mystery over who was behind Gorillaz and what could be expected from the band in the months to come. Promo outlets circulated a promotional booklet to promote the fictional backstory behind the cartoon band.

Tomorrow Comes Today

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiNdcBg3xC8 ~ Wishing for tomorrow to come today demonstrates being both simultaneously optimistic in the impossible happening and faithlessly depressed about the consequences that are to come.

The band's first single, ‘Clint Eastwood’, was released on March 5, 2001. It became a smash hit and put Gorillaz into the global spotlight. Due to this, the fictional band members' Hotmail accounts were abandoned (and later hacked) and the inboxes on the site were never updated. Later that same month, their first full-length album, the self-titled Gorillaz was released, producing four singles: ‘Clint Eastwood’, ‘19-2000′, ‘Tomorrow Comes Today’, and ‘Rock the House’.

Clint Eastwood

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UclCCFNG9q4 ~ The song’s title is a reference to Clint Eastwood, the actor who has portrayed icons of rugged manliness and badassery perhaps better than any other. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly and Gunsmoke are alluded to in the song. In the former movie, Clint’s nameless character says that he has “sunshine in a bag”, gold coins.

Each of the singles' videos contained humorous and often ridiculous storylines and imagery, though ‘Clint Eastwood’ and ‘19-2000′ were the only singles to break through the American music scene. ‘19-2000′ became popular after being featured in both an Icebreakers commercial, as well as in EA Sports' FIFA 2001.

19-2000

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tq7Ovshz1UI ~ This song is also about the rise in commercialism of the 21st century. Everything but a person’s personality will speak for who they are, so if you want to be perceived better by other’s you’re better off buying fancy things for people to judge you by.

Also the trumpets from the song ‘Rock the House’ can be heard in various MTV shows. The only time the video for ‘Tomorrow Comes Today’ was played in the States was when Toonami broadcasted a Midnight Run special where they played animated music videos from Gorillaz, Daft Punk, and Kenna.

Sound Check (Gravity)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQpclIzUwLk ~ the 8th track included on the self-titled Gorillaz album and definitely my favourite, the segment “Love is breaking” says, in other words, the definition of love is becoming more and more tainted, and he is just seemingly confused about it, (hence the “I don’t know”).

Double Bass

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ONnnlhrM-g ~ “All of which makes me anxious, all times, unbearably so” - Murdoc Niccals

I believe this song is a reference to Murdoc himself. When he was alone on plastic beach, playing his bass, he claimed to begin to interpret the noises the bass made. And we have seen Murdoc has always had bags under his eyes, which anxiety is a symptom of. This leads me to believe he has insomnia. And that this song is him describing the fear and insanity he feels everyday that drives him to be this way. We have also seen him use sex as an escape, and Satanism is him trying to embrace his insanity. So it seems Murdoc is actually a very troubled individual.

M1A1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twao9b_HXp4 ~ ‘M1A1′ is the final track (excluding bonus tracks) from the Gorillaz debut album. The song samples some of the music from the film Day of the Dead as written by John Harrison. This is the first song to sample music from a zombie film, a theme which would show up several times throughout Gorillaz' work, including the “Intro” from the album Demon Days as well as the name of the group Jamie Hewlett put together to help with the artwork, which was Zombie Flesh Eaters.

They were also rumored to work on a movie project which was abandoned later on because there was no script which was good enough for the group. "We lost all interest in doing it as soon as we started meeting with studios and talking to these Hollywood executive types, we just weren't on the same page. We said, f**k it, we'll sit on the idea until we can do it ourselves, and maybe even raise the money ourselves", Jamie said in an interview.

After stepping back from the spotlight for a while, Gorillaz came back in 2005 with another studio album Demon Days, features a variety of guests ranging from Shaun Ryder to MF DOOM. This album is primarily set on a floating island, which is prominent in the videos for ‘Feel Good Inc’, ‘El Mañana’ and ‘Dare’.

The entire album of Demon Days is about (amongst other things) how the general public respects false icons and about what humanity has done, the chaos that we rose out of and recreated ourselves

Kids With Guns

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCkFSe3voRc ~ What Albarn is trying to say in the song is that the recent generations that have determined the fate of the world have created a future in which people will have to arm their own children with guns so that they can protect themselves from the chaos and terror that will surely erupt throughout the world if we continue to prosper, as we are too smart for our own good, so to speak. Albarn is trying to say that, now that we have the ability to destroy our entire race (nuclear technology, etc.), and have the resources and equipment ready, we will surely use it, whether we should or should not.

Feel Good Inc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyHNuVaZJ-k ~ It is a dystopian song that mocks herd mentality. The music video features computer generated imagery and 2D animation. The inspiration for the video came from Hayao Miyazaki’s 1986 animated film Castle In The Sky.

For the windmill to work, 4 parts must be working in tandem. There are 4 members in the Gorillaz, so if you take away one part of the windmill, it won’t turn right. Notice that Noodle is separate from the rest of the Gorillaz in the music video. “Is everybody in?” - Is everybody ready to join 2D’s revolution? Is everybody in on the plan?

Probably referring to Noodle’s windmill island. It is interesting to note that at the end of the video for ‘Feel Good Inc’ black choppers are seen flying towards her island. In the video for ‘El Mañana’ we again see Noodle’s island, only this time being attacked by the black choppers. According to the Gorillaz autobiography, Rise of the Ogre, the two helicopters that attack the island in ‘El Mañana’ are actually different designs than the ones from ‘Feel Good Inc’, indicating the possibility of the first two merely tailing Noodle before the other two move in to attack.

El Mañana

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hji4gBuOvIQ ~ El Mañana is Spanish for “the future” or “the near future”. “Mañana” by itself can be translated as “Tomorrow”. In the video for this song, we see Noodle’s island being destroyed, and Noodle presumably dying.

White Light

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFjITwNRGGk ~ After the bright choir and instrumentation of the interlude it looks like alcohol as taken over. The song is getting chaotic and it sounds like our protagonist is in trouble. In the interlude it really sounds like if heaven is close, but all of sudden it falls. I think it’s a metaphor for the protagonist being finally called to Hell, because he has sinned (alcohol). He is doomed because of alcohol and will live in an eternal tourment.

Dare

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAOR6ib95kQ ~ Featuring Happy Mondays' Shaun Ryder. This song, in the overall narrative of Demon Days, takes place after the general depression spanning from ‘Feel Good Inc’ to ‘White Light’. Importantly, it is sung by Noodle rather than 2D. This is likely meant to convey a sense of a second perspective. The voice Noodle is delivering tells that of 2D if he is so distraught over the current state of the world, then he should take action because all he does is whine about it.

Don’t Get Lost In Heaven + Demon Days

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKzlZHl7PY ~ From the Gorillaz Rise of the Orge book: “An homage to Brian Wilson’s genius for vocal arrangement, ‘Don’t Get Lost In Heaven’ is a gleaming confection of choir, piano, and glockenspiel. If sunshine had a sound, this’d be it; displaying a warm-hearted recreation of the Beach Boy’s signature layered choral sound”.

Demon Days as an album talks a lot about negative aspects of modern life, from the Iraq War and global pollution, to the plastic nature of an overly monetised music industry. It represents today’s era as being the “Demon Days”. The title and ending track off Gorillaz’s 2005 album, Demon Days, is a really uplifting end. It’s making the case that although things are bad, there is always time to recognise the evils of the world and improve your life.

From Gorillaz Rise of the Orge book: “The light at the end of the tunnel, the dawn after the longest night of the soul. Based around the same chords as ‘Don’t Get Lost In Heaven’, allowing the two songs to become one glorious crescendo, a real musical climax that guides the listener into a far more optimistic climate”.

Noodle: “As with the previous track, the vocal harmonies were provided by the London Community Gospel Choir. This is the final relief; the hope, the rapture and the reward for the journey”.

2D (reflective and thoughtful): “You remember when you were a little kid and you would look at the clouds in the sky as the sunlight bounced off them. And something that simple would make you feel a part of everything and all alone at the same time. And that feeling’s not something you can ever put into words so you spend your whole life chasing it; making music, taking pictures, painting… whatever in the hope that other people will understand that sense or… feeling. As creative entities we look for signs of life outside ourselves for a connection to… alleviate the sense of solitude. That’s why we all do what we do. whether we know it of ourselves or not”.

They scored their first No. 1 album in the U.K. with this record and cracked the Top 10 of Billboard Hot 200 by peaking at No. 6. By the end of the year, it had gone five-time platinum in the U.K., double platinum in the U.S. and triple platinum Down Under.

Following their worldwide success, the band planned to go on a holographic 3D world tour which was scheduled to be held in 2007 and 2008. They then previewed the gig during performances at 2005 MTV Europe Music Awards and 2006 Grammy Awards with the addition of virtual Madonna on the latter show. But the traveling show was scrapped later on due to logistical issue. "It was extremely expensive, extremely difficult, a million and one things can go wrong, every second that the thing's playing. We did that thing at the EMAs. That was a test of what it could be like", Jamie said during an interview. "And when we sat and watched that, everyone involved was literally gnawing their fingernails, because we knew of the 65 things that could go wrong any second. And when it finished, when the three minutes was over and nothing went wrong, we all breathed a huge sigh of relief. So we realized that if we did a tour, it'd be a logistical nightmare".

Instead of hitting the road, Gorillaz was busy making a documentary. After around two years in the making, they finally released in April 2009 a film titled Bananaz which was directed by Ceri Levy. This movie covered the antics of the “real musicians” behind the virtual band over the course of seven years and was screened selectively in 2008 at film festivals.

A year after debuting Bananaz, they step up bringing a new album Plastic Beach on March 9, 2010. It features the likes of Snoop Dogg, Bobby Womack, Mos Def, Lou Reed and Mike Jones. The lead single ‘Stylo’ is released months prior to the album and reaches No. 25 on Billboard Alternative Songs chart.

Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0OVD0_YJnU ~ “Snoop’s the grandaddy, isn’t he? ‘Doggystyle’ was for many people the record that got them into rap and G-funk. The track also features The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, a Chicago nine-piece brass group featuring eight sons of Phil Cohran (who played trumpet with The Sun Ra Arkestra). This is a proper soundtrack: brass-laden, pimped out, plastic funk, mixing the organic with the plastic to form something new and shiny. And who better to open up this world than Snoop?” – band member Murdoc Niccals in an interview with NME.

Rhinestone Eyes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYDmaexVHic ~ The song samples the unreleased Gorillaz demo ‘Electric Shock’ and the storyboard for the unmade music video. “This one was recorded in my little submarine. I nicked a bit of my own ‘Electric Shock’ track, and stuck it in here, with a little delay over the top. Came out quite well, don’t you think?” – band member Murdoc Niccals in an interview with NME.

Stylo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhPaWIeULKk ~ “This is a new sound for Gorillaz. An electro-ish “crack funk” sound, with a little bit of politics and a lot of soul going down. With ‘Stylo’, I wanted the music to feel euphoric, whilst still putting across how precarious our tightly packed situation is now, worldwide. Where we’re at as a species on this overpopulated planet (“Coming on to the Overload. Overload. Overload”). Bobby Womack’s chorus, he just explodes into the track. How good is it to get Bobby Womack on the record? This was the first recording he’s made in 15, 20 years, so what an honour. Bobby said he only returned to do this Gorillaz track because his granddaughter said Gorillaz were cool. Which is true. We are.“ – band member Murdoc Niccals in an interview with NME.

Superfast Jellyfish

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6zPvkP5uVI ~ This song is an elaborate metaphor lambasting the music industry. Gorillaz take their time with their music, perfecting it and attempting to put out quality songs with depth and meaning, but the rigors of the industry attempt to force them into making cookie cutter pop songs like the rest of the musicians. According to the industry, the faster they can crank out the low-grade music, the more money can be made, and quality should be ignored. Gorillaz disagree.

“When you think about Gorillaz, it makes sense to have a Super Furry Animal on there, doesn’t it? I’ve always loved them, so I sent a jet over to pick Gruff up and take him over here. A lot of fun, this track. If you turn it up loud enough all the colours start spilling and washing out of the speakers. You could flood your room with a track like this.“ – band member Murdoc Niccals in an interview with NME.

Empire Ants

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-yP9f0gadU ~ Albarn is more natural when working in the kind of ornate Village Green Preservation Society-style pop that dominates Plastic Beach. His collaborations with Little Dragon, ‘Empire Ants’ and ‘To Binge’ are two of the most arresting things here, they’re airy, elusive, and amazingly beautiful.

“A moment’s peace amongst the rush. I sampled a lot of this from the theme music to Tomorrow’s World, and the vocalist is Yukimi Nagano from Little Dragon, an electronic band from Sweden. It was actually 2D who got me into Little Dragon. He played me this lovely song of theirs called ‘Twice’, which he first heard on the TV show Grey’s Anatomy.“ – band member Murdoc Niccals in an interview with NME.

Glitter Freeze

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7N30cj9w6rw ~ This song features Mark E. Smith of The Fall and includes some Morse code at the beginning after Damon says “Where’s North from here” and it says “Plastic Beach”

“I’m really glad we managed to get Mark E. Smith on the record. I’m not sure he felt the same, but y'know. He wanted to do his part facing north. “Which way’s north from here?”. We used his question as a little intro, kind of like what we did with Shaun Ryder on ‘Dare’. Sometimes the greatest moments are those little mistakes that you catch in the mix when you’re just warming up. Like ‘Punk’ on the first album, and ‘White Light’ on Demon Days, this is the album’s rawkus section of chaos. Every album’s got to have one.“ – band member Murdoc Niccals in an interview with NME.

Some Kind of Nature

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvjjc18nB14 ~ “I grew up on Lou Reed, and The Velvets. And I loved Lou’s solo stuff, ‘Magic and Loss’ and ‘The Blue Mask’ and ‘Transformer’ of course. It’s funny. This track’s got a good ol’ sunshiny vibe. Like something off Sesame Street. Apparently Lou Reed is one of the only people to never appear, or refuse to appear, on Sesame Street. So it’s quite a coup that we got him on this. I recorded with Lou over in New York and he wanted to do his whole vocal thing in private, on his own. He ordered everyone out the studio. Me too. I love Lou, but y’know: this is my album. I wanna know what’s going down. Still, his track… wow! Solid gold.“ – band member Murdoc Niccals in an interview with NME.

On Melancholy Hill

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04mfKJWDSzI ~ This song is actually said to be about the not so good side of consumerism. The album itself in many ways criticizes society in a number of ways, but it is different from the rest of the songs because it has more of a “pop” feel to it. Lyrically it fits in with the theme of the album but it is more upbeat showing a paradox in the song because it sounds “happy” but is actually kind of sad.

“The melancholy hill – it’s that feeling, that place, that you get in your soul sometimes, like someone’s let your tyres down. It’s nice to break up the album with something a little lighter. It’s good to have something that’s a genuine pop moment on every album. And this is one of those.” – band member Murdoc Niccals in an interview with NME.

Broken

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MgzG2JiQ6Q ~ So, as it turns out, “him” is the narrator, who no longer sees himself from outside his body. He now sees himself as part of the story. It’s his own story, his own relationship that is broken. His lover has left him with no way to apologize, and their “space” is forever changed. They may wish for love, or still be in love, but something has changed and they can no longer go back to how things were.

2D’s and Paula Cracker’s relationship is broken. Paula was caught having sex with Murdoc, by Russel resulting a break up. Their love now is- broken. “Erm….I don’t really know what to say about this track, y’know, like Frank Zappa said “talking about music is like fishing about architecture”. This track just works. I don’t want to talk about it. Is that, OK?” – band member Murdoc Niccals in an interview with NME.

Plastic Beach

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGM8BMqBcTo ~ “It’s a special moment for fans of Gorillaz and The Clash. How did this come about? Well, I had commandeered Paul Simonon from the Good, The Bad And The Queen. And it made sense. Gorillaz were always influenced by The Clash. They were always my favourite band, I loved how they took the heart and soul of punk and reggae smeared it in London graffiti and paint and then sailed it round the world. I don’t think that’s a million miles from what Gorillaz do now.“ – band member Murdoc Niccals in an interview with NME.

To Binge

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMnrFiG8FRo ~ This is a song about Alcoholism and how it can ruin relationships. In the video, the liquid seems to look like orange juice, but it is revealed at the end to be beer, which tells you the whole concept of the song.

In both drugs and love, it’s never healthy to binge, feeling too much after feeling too little. She’s expressing that binge-ing doesn’t feel the same as when things were steady. Her feelings are changing and she can’t figure out if she wants to quit. She feels bad doing the drugs/being with him, but she falls right back to how she wants it to be and is once again caught up in the good feelings the drugs/relationship temporarily give her.

In the last verse, 2D by using economy to symbolize his heart is undergoing a sharp decline because of his addiction. His “autonomy” is the free will he possesses, but can’t do much with because he’s so dependent on his alcohol. 2D is in the neverendin cycle of his alcohol addiction, and as hard as he tries to free himeself he always finds himself back with the alcohol in his hand. Again, apply Alcohol to a relationship. This song is a dual meaning.

“Another collaboration with Little Dragon, ‘To Binge’ ends up as a beautiful duet between vocalist Yukimi Nagamo and 2D. A Hawaiian version of melancholy, yeah? You don’t see a lot of miserable Hawaiians, do you? It’s not known for its grim outlook on life.” – band member Murdoc Niccals in an interview with NME.

Cloud of Unknowing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S02Sb_KnndQ ~ “This track’s a mirror of the opener, a final reflection on the Plastic Beach. Bobby Womack’s performance on this song can still bring tears to my eyes. That mixture of hope and uncertainty in his voice – the age and the experience, the fear and the joy… ‘scuse me. This song, like the Who’s ‘Love Reign O’er Me’ is the moment that gathers together the events of the album – and pauses for reflection: ‘Waiting to see what the morning brings, it may bring sunshine on its wings…’“ – band member Murdoc Niccals in an interview with NME

The Cloud of Unknowing is a religious document from the middle ages. Penned by an anonymous author, it urges the reader into believing that the best way to feel god’s touch is through deep meditation. While during meditation, he tells us that we must forget everything we think we know about god. Only then, once you are on “The Cloud of Unknowing”, can you truly experience god in his purest form, and feel his touch. So, the subject of this song may be that state, in which we are less susceptible to bias, and more open to the true nature of experience.

Pirate Jet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xqqb0LGVKiI ~ The plastic eating people refers to how poisoned our foods are. Animals have been eating plastic as it enters the environment. We eat the animals, eating our own poison.

“‘Pirate Jet’ takes the album out swinging, a finale with shuddering jazz hands: “Did you like the show? It was called PLANET EARTH”. We’re finished and now everyone’s evolved into plastic. A new breed of human. But y’know, I want to clear this up. Plastic Beach. It’s not a green record. It’s not a judgement on the world. It’s just a picture. Plastic Beach: it’s another place, another way of looking at the world. And this is its soundtrack….“ – band member Murdoc Niccals in an interview with NME.

Doncamatic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJQyTnD74gk ~ This song is featured on the digital download version of Plastic Beach. The music video is set after the ‘On Melancholy Hill’ video as Gorillaz are waiting for Daley to arrive. The song is named after the first instrument created by Korg, the Donca Matic is “the groundbreaking Japanese-designed drum machine which started the Korg Musical Instrument Company in 1963!”

“Claim back the boy you left behind” is Daley’s way of encouraging people to regain their youthfulness. Too often, children sacrifice their creativity and innocence to seem mature. Daley believes this is where people go wrong as he later encourages listeners to “Close the white book” and “Unplug the brain from the game” where the white book can be interpreted as the rules of society and the games are the acts that occur within society. Interestingly enough, Daley has some scientific backing, as depression and stress has been linked to excessive technology usage according to research done at the University of Gothenburg.

The Fall is the Gorillaz fourth studio album released in 2011, a year after they released their third album, Plastic Beach. According to the story of Gorillaz, The Fall was made solely by lead singer 2D, on his hiatus from Gorillaz between the making of their 2nd and 3rd albums. 2D finished recording when Murdoc gassed him while he was in Beirut in order to kidnap him to bring him to the plastic beach to work on their third album.

Phoner to Arizona

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAeUwuUGSaM ~ Recorded in Montreal, Canada on the 3rd of October 2010. The lyrics are almost impossible to understand as it is an automated computer speech that has been distorted.

Revolving Doors

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePoSILQJeOg ~ Damon Albarn - 2D wrote this song in a hotel in Massachusetts after seeing revolving doors, which reminded him how far he was away from home and how out of place he was. This song is about how the music industry is constantly changing, usually for the worse, and all the stress and depression caused by it or fuelled by it.

2D has come to the realization or is trying to deny the fact that he was born depressed and un-amused with life. That no matter what amount of drugs he takes, how much “sunshine he has in a bag” or whether or not people care for him. He will always have a cynical swing of depression that revolves around in his mind like a revolving door in a building.

Little Pink Plastic Bags

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvqfEURv-P4 ~ Features additional keyboards by Jesse Hackett. Recorded in Chicago, Illinois on October the 16th 2010. People don’t have any goals in life, but are just along for the ride. They don’t know where they’re going, they’re just going to go.

Amarillo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKtNaVaqAKk ~ This song is named after the place in Texas, USA, called Amarillo where it was recorded.

In this moment Albarn was seriously thinking about leaving the Gorillaz project to focus on his group Blur alone , but the choice was quite a hard one , which also explains why it was a particular moment in his life. A single prayer, asking for a response from God. The song is deeply involved with the concept of personal development and change. “I got lost on the highway” signals that the narrator has strayed from his path, becoming something he doesn’t want to be. This is made clear in the next line, “Forgive me for what I’ve become”.

The Speak It Mountains

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXmahzlugdI ~ The lyrics mean that it is the beginning of the day and it is getting harder to live as time moves on even though there is new life being made and the world, although beautiful, can be deceiving and cause death and lack of life.

Bobby In Phoenix

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFgR7js-H3k ~ The Fall was recorded by Damon Albarn on an iPad over the course of a month during a tour through the US and Canada. Albarn said of the recording, “I literally made it on the road. I didn’t write it before, I didn’t prepare it I just did it day by day as a kind of diary of my experience of America”.

It’s a love song by Bobby to his favourite place in the USA. And how in his old age he can feel the dread of death looming over him, and how even his beloved Phoenix can’t quite calm that dread.

California & The Slipping Of The Sun

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aHc5Fn5IrI ~ This song features a train station announcement being made when Damon was at the train station talking to Jamie Hewlett, Mick Jones, Tanyel Vahdettin and Darren “Smoggy” Evans.

Do Ya Thing

~ This song, made by the Gorillaz, Andre 3000, and James Murphy (LCD Soundsystem) was part of Converse’s ‘3 Artists, 1 Song’ music series. The song is also the starting point for a limited edition Chuck Taylor All-Star Collection designed by Gorillaz artist Jamie Hewlett. The shoe designs feature artwork from other projects related to Gorillaz.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nf_PmmlCiso

It was released in two different versions: the approximately 4-and-a-half-minute radio edit, and the explicit 13-minute version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bn4A0Onfjkg

The former was released as a free download on Converse's website, while the latter was released for streaming on Gorillaz's website.

“Andre 3000 murders this track, but that’s an understatement. He doesn’t just murder this track, he kidnaps it, and he ties it up, and then he brings it to his van, and then he drives it down to his evil lair were he tortures it for like 3 weeks, and then chops it up into little pieces and tosses it into the ocean. Serial Killer style.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfu4j0mILCY

The music video opens to a video of a crocodile scaring a herd of antelope. It then cuts to a scene where 2D wakes up and changes clothes in 212 Wobble Street, London, SW21 7QJ. He exits his room and checks another one, finding other band member Noodle fast asleep. After that, he looks in a bathroom and finds a masked figure representing André 3000, surrounded by light blue-skinned "sweat collectors". Disgusted, 2D looks in another room that turns out to be shrouded in complete darkness with the sounds of sheep, chickens and a man crying, which in turn is a reference to a Motorola commercial which band member Murdoc Niccals appeared in. Murdoc then scares 2D by popping up in the room, and he proceeds to go down the stairs using a stair lift as 2D goes to the living room as the Doncamatic submarine makes a cameo appearance behind him, and finds a previous character from the album Plastic Beach named the Boogeyman reading a newspaper (while the ‘Dare’ music video plays on the TV). He goes down to the kitchen and opens a cabinet, only to find the masked figure stuffed inside it. Calmly shutting the door on him, he cooks toast and puts it on his plate along with, without realizing, a human ear from a bowl of them near the toaster. 2D then opens a refrigerator and finds the masked figure stuffed inside it, who gives 2D a milk carton and jelly. At the dining table, he reads a fictional newspaper comic entitled ‘The Gorillaz’, showing comics called ‘The Funnies’ which features a comic of Murdoc hugging 2D. Murdoc, having finally finished going down the stairs, goes up to 2D and angrily hits him with a Gorillaz Converse shoe, unlike the comic, leaving the former very upset. 2D decides against eating the toast upon realising that it has an ear on it, turns off the radio (which also cuts the song) and leaves the house, while Murdoc starts a transmission from his radio station, playing the intro to the Gorillaz song ‘5/4′. Once outside, he receives a notice of eviction from a baboon mailman representing James Murphy, and smiles, looking relieved. The car from the music video of ‘Stylo’ is "parked" outside. The camera points up, revealing a still-giant Russel Hobbs sleeping on the roof of the house and the remains of the windmill island (nicknamed "The Slowboat") from the ‘Feel Good Inc.’ and ‘El Mañana’ music videos floating in the sky.

Following hints in the media that Gorillaz were back at work, their Instagram social media began uploading updates on each band member as short stories. It’s been six years since Plastic Beach and it would seem that 2D, Murdoc, Noodle, and Russel have a lot of catching up to do.

The Book Of Noodle

“She drifted away from Plastic Beach to safety, or so she thought. years later Noodle is face to face with pure evil ... Will she prevail?”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wrYpbV8ft4 ~ On October 3, 2016, Gorillaz uploaded updates on their Instagram page concerning guitarist Noodle’s travels since Plastic Beach (2010).

This is not the first time Noodle has disappeared from the band following an attack. She also survived a deadly attack during the filming of the video for ‘Feel Good Inc’. She was last formally seen in the video for ‘On Melancholy Hill’ where she was attempting to reunite with her bandmates. Storyboards for a cancelled video for ‘Rhinestone Eyes’ show another attack on the band by The Boogieman. This time, her disappearance led her to her home country of Japan.

The Gorillaz Instagram story shows a murdered Maazu with Noodle holding her bloodied sword in a busy Japanese bar/restaurant.

Noodle’s return to England is reminiscent of her original introduction to the band way back in 1998, when she was smuggled by Japanese scientist Mr Kyuzo: After temporarily clearing her memory of the project, Kyuzo smuggled Noodle to the United Kingdom in a FedEx crate and falsely reported her death (along with the other 22 children) to his superiors. Noodle arrived at the doorstep of Kong Studios in 1998. Once the crate was taken inside, Noodle sprung out of the box and performed a guitar solo (which 2D described as “200 demons screaming in Arabic. Brilliant!”). She ended her solo with a 20 foot high karate kick before bowing and saying the word “Noodle”. This resulted with her earning the name “Noodle” (her only currently known name).

The Book Of Russel

“Discovering that life in a glass dome is not all it's cracked up to be, Russel shakes off his mistaken identity but will he ever make it back to safe shores?”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMsje5xNW1E ~ One week after the release of ‘The Book of Noodle’, Gorillaz posted an update on the whereabouts of drummer Russel on their Instagram. ‘The Book of Russel’ explains Russel’s imprisonment in North Korea as a literal giant local tourist attraction before his release and return to England.

The posts came accompanied with videos and military music of a stylised North Korea. This drew some criticism for its racist/frivolous attitude to the real-life famine and oppression taking place in actual North Korea.Russel grew to an unnatural size due to all the radioactive fish he ate on his way to Plastic Beach. In an interview with Puss Puss Magazine in October 2016 he said of his giant growth:

“The biggest challenge was people judging me. Because yeah, I get it, I was big – but I’ve got an overactive thyroid. People see a sixty-foot giant and assume they’re up all night crying and spooning cookie dough into their faces. It was my THYROID.”

The hip-hop hard man rescued Noodle during the attack on Plastic Beach, but after being mistaken for a whale and harpooned, Russel was separated from Noodl and ended up in North Korea and achieved celebrity status after locals concluded that he was Godzilla. However, when he shrunk back to normal size (due to meagre food rations), he was released and made his way back to England and ultimately reconnected with Noodle.

It’s clear that Gorillaz are now reunited. “The band was getting back together”, the book concludes. When asked about the new album, Russel replied: “You can expect whatever you like. What is coming will come, whether you expect it or not.”

The Book Of Murdoc

“Murdoc abandoned the pirate-infested Plastic Beach. With only a cyborg Noodle for company, and nowhere near enough booze, what will he do when it runs out?”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFxwCuEiNjA ~ Focusing on Murdoc Niccals, the latest story from the band sees the band member leave Plastic Beach after a pirate attack, fleeing on his own in a rusty submarine. The Battleship is named after The Beatles drummer Ringo Starr, also referenced earlier as Muroc navigated through the Octopuses Garden. Packing only a crate of rum and cyborg version of his bandmate Noodle, Murdoc remained safely below the waves until his supply of booze ran out. Upon surfacing, he encountered a fleet of steel ships sent by record label EMI. Gorillaz have a long-standing working relationship with label Parlophone, a subsidiary of EMI (up until 2012) and Warner Music Group (2013-). They have evidently been scouring the world in search of their greatest songwriting asset, Murdoc Niccals. Taken hostage by the label, he was jailed for three years and was freed upon agreeing to write a new Gorillaz album.

The Book Of 2D

“The attack on Plastic Beach forced 2D into hiding, but he wasn't alone. Washed up on a desert island with Massive Dick and faced with starvation, will he go native or find his way back to civilisation?”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVJLjRpIrRs ~ Starting once more from the attack on Plastic Beach, the story reveals that vocalist 2D had hidden himself away in his underwater quarters. It wasn't much safer below the waves either: a great white whale known as Massive Dick swallowed him in one bite and swam away into the depths. The story then reveals that a lifetime of eating garbage in the ocean caused Massive's sudden death, washing 2D and the whale's carcass ashore on a desert island. With limited survival skills, 2D had no other option but to eat the body of the whale.

The story isn't all doom and gloom however, as 2D soon finds he isn't alone on the island after following a plane along the coast right into the middle of a beach rave. Deciding to "have a gap year and find himself," he was soon fired from his job as a friendship bracelet weaver and decided it was time to fly home.

There was the announcement that both De La Soul and Snoop Dogg would appear on the new Gorillaz album a couple of months back. “With Damon, it was easy because we love working with him”, Posdnuos told The Guardian. “We’re about to be on the new Gorillaz album. Snoop was also performing on the record when we were over there. He pulled us to the side and said: “Hey man, we’ve never worked together, can we get this going?” Usually the lawyers will say: “You can pay this artist or maybe we can swap?” and then it goes from there.”

Hallelujah Money

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5d3yeszApV8 ~ Released one day before Donald Trump’s inauguration. A protest song against the global political atmosphere of 2016 - particularly with regards to the influence of money and race politics in the U.S. elections. It describes the dream-like America that Trump promised his voters, and uses a tree as a symbol of western prosperity.

English composer, poet, and multi-instrumentalist Benjamin Clementine and his fairy tale-like narration add to the sense of wonder surrounding this dream. Clementine hones in on Trump’s plans to build a wall on the Mexican border, a topic that continually resurfaced during the elections.

The video was directed by Giorgio Testi and Gorillaz, and edited by Sebastian Monk. It features stirring images of La Candelaria brethren, African tribesmen, and dancing geishas flashing behind Clementine as he “stands in the gold-plated elevator of Trump Tower”.

Following the 2016 U.S. election, Donald Trump’s ability to win the electoral vote left many voters disillusioned with the democratic process. His anti-establishment platform seemed paradoxical considering his personal wealth and relations with other big money parties in the U.S. Clementine ironically exhorts listeners to worship money—it can be their new god, just like how President Trump worships and uses money for his own personal interests.

The scream at the end of the song is taken from Spongebob Squarepants, specifically from season one, episode fourteen, ‘Karate Choppers’. Spongebob is reacting to Mr. Krabs telling him “you’re fired”, which was Donald Trump’s catchphrase on The Apprentice. While the inclusion of the scream is a playful nod to Gorillaz’s cartoon existence, it’s also a way of expressing genuine fear at the results of the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Everyday Robots

Speaking about working with XL Recordings owner Richard Russell on the Everyday Robots album, Albarn told Rolling Stone: “In an ironic way, it’s sort of the most collaborative record I’ve ever done when it comes to songwriting. Some of the songs just came from the two of us experimenting in the studio.”

Russell handled the drum programming while Albarn took on the singing, piano and guitar parts. “We did it in just three months at my studio”, he said. “We’d work five days a week, 10:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m.”

Everyday Robots

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjbiUj-FD-o ~ Starting with a Lord Buckley sample, Damon Albarn’s ‘Everyday Robots’ is an interesting mix of hip-hop production with piano ballad pop rock that’s right in line with his work in the Gorillaz. The track almost sounds like a cross between Radiohead and Jay Z, and this shows how Damon can adapt his creative work to today’s music in the UK, with this “postdubstep” going on (like James Blake or Mount Kimbie).

Recorded in 2013 at the Damon’s West London studio 13, ‘Everyday Robots’ was produced by XL Recordings head Richard Russell. Albarn came up with this song while stuck in a traffic jam in California. He explained to XFM’s John Kennedy. “I was just watching everyone around me and everyone is so lost in their little worlds: on the telephone, listening to music.”

The song’s music video was created by Argentina-born, London-based artist and designer Aitor Throup, who said that he used, “CGI software and actual cranial scans and facial reconstruction techniques to explore and reveal the process of building a uniquely personal portrait of an artist and individual.”

Hostiles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hY0LhRZtQIs ~ Damon Albarn told The Guardian that he wrote this song after spending Christmas at his mother-in-law’s house, “spending hours on the sofa playing The Dark Knight video game with my daughter, just zapping these endless characters with no real humanity.”

Written from the perspective of a gamer who is going to spend the day killing digital enemies. “The hostiles are sort of in those shooting games that character that constantly get up on each level and you’re given no character other than they’re hostile to you. They’re completely soulless things and there’s something in that relationship that we have with the world when you’re in a sort of altered state and the blankness of just killing, that sort of passive aggression that exists in computer games.” - Damon Albarn

Lonely Press Play

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9MMJgFKv24 ~ This dirge-like ballad finds Albarn crooning lyrics of isolation and loneliness. It is one of several satirical rants on Everyday Robots against 21st century tech obsession. The video is made up of scenes from Albarn’s travels filmed on the Damon’s iPad. The clip visits Tokyo, Dallas, Utah, North Korea, Iceland, as well as London, Devon and Colchester in the UK.

“That starts really strangely with arrhythmia, which means when your heartbeat is irregular. It’s about accepting that you live with uncertainty.” Albarn explained to The Sun. “The ‘press play’ refers to abstractions in an everyday sense, whether it’s watching a DVD or putting on the radio or passing time playing a game on the tube“, he added. “We live in a world where the symbols like the (press play) triangle has become synonymous with time out”, Albarn continued. “It goes back to the Egyptians and their esoteric take on the whole universe.”

Mr. Tembo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODG3VRkncBc ~ This is an ode to a baby elephant that Albarn met in a place called Mkombozi, in Tanzania. He recalled to Rolling Stone: “It was recently orphaned and walked onto this aerodrome; the people I know took it in and called it Mr. Tembo. I was there, and I met this little elephant, and he was very sweet. I sang it to him. It was recorded on a phone, and in a lighthearted moment, I put it on a list for Richard. He said, “I’d really like you to try that”, so I did.”

The song features backing vocals by The Leytonstone City Mission Choir. “Back in Leytonstone, there was a Pentecostal Church at the end of my road that belonged to the city mission. I remember standing outside with my bicycle listening to the singing, but never being able to find an entry point. But it was a very strong childhood memory that I’ve carried with me. I got in contact with that church, and they’ve still got a small choir, so they very kindly agreed to sing on the record a bit.”

The Selfish Giant

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iI8_Jz2SwbE ~ Natasha Khan of Bat For Lashes sings a ghostly echo of Albarn’s voice on this narrative of a night spent at Dunoon in Scotland. Dunoon used to be a nuclear submarine base. Albarn recalled to The Sun: “Blur did a gig there. It was a ghostly place, shrouded in melancholy and had seen better days.” This also samples horns by Kenny Clayton from The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde.

The Oscar Wilde story, the song was named after, is about a giant who doesn’t let children enter his garden, but after a while, he helps one of them to climb a tree in his backyard. The giant smashes the wall around his garden and other children come to play in the garden, but the very boy the giant helped has left. The giant is heartbroken. Albarn’s song seems to play with this story a bit: the narrator feels like a selfish giant, and he let someone get close to him, but he can’t stand the idea of being left.

You & Me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7XdqfD9xSY ~ Damon Albarn shouts out the West London road of Westbourne Grove, which has been his manor for a number of years. It serves as the main road on the route of the annual Notting Hill Carnival in August. He told Uncut magazine: “Always after Carnival, there is this enormous residue of energy that hovers around for a few days. It’s a Post-Carnival Apocalypse song!”

This is actually an amalgamation of two different songs, the first being titled ‘You’ and the other being ‘Me’.

‘You’: Refers to using heroine: the lighter is used to make the heroine dissolve a vapor, and if you inhale that vapor, you’ll get high. This method is often called chasing the dragon. Damon began his relationship with heroin at the height of Britpop. He acknowledged to Q magazine the role that the drug played in his artistic growth. “I hate talking about this because of my daughter, my family. But, for me, it was incredibly creative… A combination of heroin and playing really simple, beautiful, repetitive shitt in Africa changed me completely as a musician. I found a sense of rhythm. I somehow managed to break out of something with my voice.”

Instrumental intermezzo: Around 3:30 some steeldrums kick in, giving the song an estranged feeling, which probably echoes how you feel when you’re on drugs. The steel drums break in the middle of the song was played by a local London musician. Albarn explained on a Reddit AMA that “his pans represent to me the true ghost of carnival”. This middle section is followed by the second part of the song, which sounds more like a distinctive song, though it has the same gloomy feel as the first part.

‘Me’: He is saying the addiction may have been his fault and he should be blamed. He is also using twilight in the sense of light caused by the setting of the sun as well as the other meaning of the decline of his career meaning the addiction has made him not only a worse person but a worse musician thus he quit though it was hard and was several relapses. “All goes round again” could also show how repetitive things can become and the fact that those lyrics were used repetitively adds to the effect.

Hollow Ponds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6q1Uf5Cgac ~ Damon Albarn takes us on a walk through his personal history on this song, taking in key moments that have shaped him such as the drought of 1976, the road he once lived in being severed by the M11 link road in 1991, and seeing the graffiti “modern life is rubbish” sprayed on a wall in 1993 (also the same year Blur released their album titled Modern Life Is Rubbish).

“1976 is a long time ago really. There’s that realisation that a lot of things have been quite interesting in the way I turned out. They seemed to be worthy of some kind of meditation. That’s what I’m trying to do in ‘Hollow Ponds’: go back and then realise that it’s now. In a way, how do we know that we exist other than that beam of light that’s our history?” says Damon Albarn.

The song contains a sample of the Central Line underground train leaving Leytonstone Station.

The History Of A Cheating Heart

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcoR_-4g2Mg ~ This song deals with finding inspiration to write music and how that can be hurtful at times. Albarn explained the song’s meaning to The Sun: “I’d talk about relationships with my family, from childhood to now”, he said. “It’s driven by mistakes, happiness, dreams, expectations. How you find yourself locked in cycles and how you get out of them. I know that my experience is very similar to other people. I’m offering some of the more difficult stuff. I’m posing a question to everyone else as well.”

Uncut magazine asked Damon if he thinks the pursuit of an artistic vision is damaging to emotional stability, to which he replied: “I think it definitely can be. Because, as a songwriter, you need to feel stuff for it to come out honestly. And how do you do that? You do that by being curious, and curiosity is a very open book for a lot of fuck-ups in life.”

Heavy Seas Of Love

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCUfitpIsW8 ~ This song is a duet between Damon Albarn and Brian Eno. Brian Eno is better known as a producer than a singer. It was Everyday Robots producer, Richard Russell, who suggested that he sung on this track. Albarn told The Sun: “He said, “No one asks Brian to sing, everyone asks him to produce.” And Brian is such a fan of singing – he has a vocal group who meet every Tuesday. He has such a clear, crisp voice and mine is such a different tone, so it was interesting to put the two together.”

“As above, so below” is an important saying in the Pagan philosophy of Hermeticism. Essentially, your “spirit” mirrors the real world, and the real world in turn shadows a greater spiritual world beyond that.

The song features The Leytonstone City Mission Choir, who also contributed to ‘Mr. Tembo’. Albarn felt that the choir held a nostalgic importance to him and asked the Church if he could record with the collective.

The artwork for the song’s single release features the Palacio Salvo building, which is located in the Uruguay capital of Montevideo. Albarn explained during a Reddit AMA: “I found my whole stay in Uruguay quite affecting – the view from my hotel was completely dominated by the Palacio Salvo. I spent a lot of time looking at it”. The music video was directed by Damon Albarn and edited by Matt Cronin.

Personal Life

Albarn is now in a relationship with the artist Suzi Winstanley. They have a daughter together, Missy Violet, born in 1999. Albarn described becoming a father as "witnessing a life force" and saying that "it massively changes you. It slowly sort of shaves off the unpleasant thorny bits and hopefully creates a nicely rounded... I don't know, having a kid, you just become far more, inevitably you look to the future far more and, you know, it's desperate sometimes when you have a particularly bad few weeks of the newspaper just reminding you about this is wrong, this is wrong. We've got ten more years everyone."

Albarn has been an active supporter of various charities and philanthropic efforts throughout his career as a musician and has been involved in various charity albums and singles. DRC Music, a collective formed by Albarn, released their debut album Kinshasa One Two as a charity album in which all of the money earned is given to Oxfam.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMy4Rzd1cTk&index=1&list=PL0FB6F34A16A6DE1C

Albarn has also formed a collective with Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner, and Franz Ferdinand frontman Alex Kapranos to make a charity single with the money earned from that single also donated to Oxfam.

In 2013, Albarn alongside fellow Blur bandmate Graham Coxon performed live with former rival Noel Gallagher of Oasis and Paul Weller of The Jam to play Blur's 1999 single 'Tender' in support of Teenage Cancer Trust.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AqMbI3o7Ps

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