Gorillaz have released a beautiful eight-minute short film The Mountain, The Moon Cave & The Sad God, directed by Jamie Hewlett – watch below.
Damon Albarn and co. are celebrating the release of their star-studded ninth studio album ‘The Mountain’ today (February 27) via their own label Kong.
Much of the album was recorded in India during a time when both Albarn and Hewlett were travelling to find peace after the passing of their fathers, and the record finds their cartoon counterparts similarly on a journey around the world in pursuit of “mystical music making”.
To mark the release, they have shared The Mountain, The Moon Cave & The Sad God, a short film that has been directed by Hewlett, alongside Max Taylor and Tim McCourt of the BAFTA-nominated London-based animations studio THE LINE.
With an opening strongly reminiscent of Disney’s The Jungle Book, scored by the album’s title track, the film shows Murdoc, Russel, 2D and Noodle in India, having turned their backs on international pop stardom in order to bury themselves in the musical rhythms of the country.
Watch the characters’ mystical journey in The Mountain, The Moon Cave & The Sad God here:
In keeping with the record’s theme of death and healing, it features several guest voices from beyond the grave, including Afrobeat percussion legend Tony Allen, The Fall’s Mark E. Smith, D12 rapper Proof, Dennis Hopper, Bobby Womack and De La Soul’s Dave Jolicoeur.
Others to make appearances include IDLES, Sparks, Yasiin Bey (FKA Mos Def), Gruff Rhys, The Clash’s Paul Simonon, Anoushka Shankar and Johnny Marr.
In a four-star review of ‘The Mountain’, NME wrote: “‘The Mountain’ is an album that celebrates the love you leave behind, the people you touch, the spirit of giving more than you take, how we’re all the same when it’s done. As Albarn puts it ‘Orange County’: “I’m not your enemy, your atoms gone, you stand alone, and everything you gave to someone you love – that’s the hardest thing”.
They recently played the first show on ‘The Mountain’ tour in Los Angeles, and in March, Gorillaz will head out on a UK and Ireland tour that includes a one-off headline show at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on June 20 – something that Albarn made a recent quip at.
Before the Tottenham gig, the band will also play some warm-up shows in Bradford, and from there will make stops at numerous European festivals over the summer, including Electric Picnic, Primavera Sound Barcelona and Porto, and Rock Werchter. Visit here for tickets.
Next month will also see Albarn perform on Saturday Night Live for the first time with Gorillaz. They’ll take to the stage of the show on March 7, with Ryan Gosling as host.
