Gorillaz – Humanz review

More isn’t always bet­ter. That’s some­thing you could read­i­ly dis­agree with when faced with the ever-chang­ing ros­ter of guests who have joined the world-con­quer­ing vir­tu­al band Goril­laz. But upon see­ing the guest list for Humanz – the band’s first prop­er album in sev­en years – its nat­ur­al lit­tle con­cerned that flesh-and-blood band leader, Damon Albarn, might just have over­done it this time. Humanz is noth­ing if not bold in con­cept and exe­cu­tion. But, unfor­tu­nate­ly, it lacks the sub­tle alche­my that made the band’s last three stu­dio albums so spectacular.

Humanz is billed as a par­ty record for a world gone nutz. It brings togeth­er an out­landish mix­ture of house music vet­er­ans (Peven Everett, Jamie Prin­ci­ple), rap­pers (Vince Sta­ples, Dan­ny Brown), new-age R&B stars (Kali Uchis, Kelela), rock lead­ers (Noel Gal­lagher, Jehn­ny Beth), and music leg­ends (Grace Jones, Car­ly Simon), among others.

In inter­views, Albarn spoke about being great­ly inspired by Earth, Wind & Fire, and the hum­ble syn­the­sis­er had played with as a child. It is from this place that Humanz most imme­di­ate excite­ment springs from. ‘Stro­belite’ is a glo­ri­ous com­bi­na­tion of ear­ly 80s synth and head-bob­bing hand caps, topped off by enchant­i­ng vocals from Peven Everett. ‘Androm­e­da’, which fea­tures US rap­per-singer DRAM, is a dance track infused with oth­er­world­ly qual­i­ties. ‘Sat­urnz Barz’ is a left-field, dark-night-of-the-soul type track that with unex­pect­ed, sober­ing hon­esty from reg­gae artist Pop­caan.

High­lights such as these are dot­ted through­out this gar­gan­tu­an album. The trou­ble is it’s hard to shake the feel­ing that, on a lengthy project, some tracks were best left out (saved for a fan-pleas­ing B‑sides col­lec­tion), and those that remain blend­ed togeth­er with more care by Albarn and his co-pro­duc­ers, The Twilite Tone and Remi Kaba­ka. ‘Momentz (feat. De La Soul)’, though inven­tive, is a chal­lenge for even the most die-hard fan. ‘Car­ni­val’ and ‘Sex Mur­der Par­ty’ aren’t as imag­i­na­tive as they sound. And, com­pared to Goril­laz pre­vi­ous work, album clos­er (on the stan­dard edi­tion), ‘We Got the Pow­er (feat. Jehn­ny Beth)’, is all too brisk.

This con­coc­tion makes Humanz a dif­fi­cult album to fall in love with to the mag­ni­tude of Demon Days or Plas­tic Beach. What­ev­er you think of those albums, they each have a glo­ri­ous arc to them. Humanz, on the oth­er hand, is an album stuffed to burst­ing with ideas and sounds that cap­ti­vate (‘Ascen­sion (feat. Vince Stapes)’, ‘Let Me Out (feat. Mavis Sta­ples & Pusha T)’, ‘Sub­mis­sion (feat. Dan­ny Brown & Kelela)’, ‘Bust­ed and Blue’) – espe­cial­ly when the deluxe edi­tion is tak­en into account, with Ray Blk, Kilo Kish and Zebra Katz all offer­ing deal-mak­ing guest con­tri­bu­tions. Yet, even though this par­ty has many high­lights, it stops short of unforgettable.

Goril­laz has always been a vehi­cle for Albarn, and co-cre­ator and artist Jamie Hewlett, to push the enve­lope, and intro­duce music that wouldn’t nor­mal­ly stand half a chance when offered to main­stream audi­ences. Albarn hasn’t exer­cised the expert focus he has done with his pre­vi­ous off-the-wall ideas. Still, even with its warts, Goril­laz’ lat­est incar­cer­a­tion is an ener­getic, provoca­tive, foot-stomp­ing alter­na­tive pop celebration.

3/5

Humanz is out now on Par­lophone Records.

If you like this artist, check out: Janelle Monáe; Bro­ken Bells

Image: Jamie Hewlett

Tags: Album reviews, Albums, Benjamin Clementine, Carly Simon, Damon Albarn, Danny Brown, De La Soul, DRAM, Gorillaz, Grace Jones, Jamie Hewlett, Jamie Principle, Jehnny Beth, Kali Uchis, Kelela, Kilo Kish, London musicians, Noel Gallagher, Parlophone Records, Peven Everett, Popcaan, Pusha T, Ray Blk, Remi Kabaka, The Twilite Tone, UK music, Vince Staples, Zebra Katz