{"id":503492,"date":"2026-02-27T17:29:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T17:29:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/503492\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T17:29:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T17:29:08","slug":"the-mountain-review-a-world-building-ode-to-death-and-starting-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/503492\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The Mountain\u2019 review: a world-building ode to death and starting over"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cYou know the hardest thing is to say goodbye to someone you love,\u201d pines Damon Albarn<\/a> on \u2018Orange County\u2019, the gem at the heart of Gorillaz<\/a>\u2018s ninth album \u2018The Mountain\u2019. The bittersweet tearjerker and sonic cousin to \u2018On Melancholy Hill\u2019 speaks to the soul of Gorillaz<\/a>\u2018s ninth album. As he would later put it, dealing with death is something the Brits are particularly bad at, but not so in India where he and Gorillaz co-creator Jamie Hewlett travelled to find peace after the passing of their fathers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And so their cartoon counterparts too headed their focus more on \u201cmystical music making\u201d rather than international pop stardom. Still, bangers meet world music on this spiritual meditation on loss and moving on.<\/p>\n

\u2018The Mountain\u2019 as a full-bodied world-building affair; arguably their most rich and complete since \u2018Plastic Beach\u2019. After the Indian soundscapes of the title track provide a suitably widescreen opener, \u2018The Moon Cave\u2019 sends us off with a little funk and the Sparks<\/a>-assisted \u2018The Happy Dictator\u2019 takes a playful jab at the tyrants and despots who present themselves as eternal. They should be so lucky. Peace comes as IDLES<\/a>\u2019 Joe Talbot jumps on the woozy \u2018Clint Eastwood\u2019-esque hip-hop of \u2018The God Of Lying\u2019, finding his own worth among all the doubt: \u201cAre you happy with your housing?\/ Are you climbing up the walls? \/ Are you deafened by the headlines, or does your head not hear at all?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

From the steady soul-rap sway of \u2018The Empty Dream Machine\u2019 to the dreamy bop of \u2018The Plastic Guru\u2019, the Bollywood rap rager \u2018Damascus\u2019 and the waltz heavenward of of \u2018The Sad God\u2019, \u2018The Mountain\u2019 is a colourful and flowing tapestry of sound and texture. As well as five languages sung \u2013 Arabic, English, Hindi, Spanish and Yoruba \u2013 the world tour feel is enhanced by Gorillaz typically mighty rollcall of collabs, with Johnny Marr<\/a>\u2019s flowery fretwork weaved throughout alongside spots from the likes of Omar Souleyman<\/a>, Asha Puthli, Gruff Rhys<\/a>, Yasiin Bey, The Clash<\/a>\u2019s Paul Simonon, Trueno and many more.<\/p>\n

Fittingly, there are guests from beyond the grave. Rhythm maestro Tony Allen<\/a> repeats the mantra of \u201cOya E dide erori\u201d on \u2018The Hardest Thing\u2019, translating to \u201cwe are ready, let\u2019s go\u201d and wishing the spirits on to the next realm, while The Fall<\/a> icon Mark E. Smith drawls his much-missed surrealism on the ravey horrorshow of \u2018Delirium\u2019, warning the \u201cshrunken china chief head dealer\u201d that they\u2019re \u201ccoming home a sinner\u201c. Late D12<\/a> rapper Proof, shot dead in 2006 but with his vocals to \u2018The Manifesto\u2019 recorded 25 years ago, seems to be sending a warning of the trouble that found him: \u201cNo one can convince the invincible to be sensible\u201d.<\/p>\n

Completing the deceased choir of \u2018Voices From Elsewhere\u2019 are Dennis Hopper, Bobby Womack<\/a>, and De La Soul\u2018<\/a>s Dave Jolicoeur. Their inclusion really echoes that absence is a presence in a touching testament to how art outlives us all and how death is not the end. \u2018The Mountain\u2019 is an album that celebrates the love you leave behind, the people you touch, the spirit of giving more than you take, how we\u2019re all the same when it\u2019s done. As Albarn puts it \u2018Orange County\u2019: \u201cI\u2019m not your enemy, your atoms gone, you stand alone, and everything you gave to someone you love \u2013 that\u2019s the hardest thing\u201d.<\/p>\n

Details<\/p>\n

\"Gorillaz<\/p>\n

Record label: Kong
\nRelease date: February 27, 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cYou know the hardest thing is to say goodbye to someone you love,\u201d pines Damon Albarn on \u2018Orange…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":337472,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[4526,49,48,6468,75,341],"class_list":["post-503492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-alternative","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-electronic","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=503492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503492\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/337472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=503492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=503492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=503492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}