With the newest Gorillaz project The Mountain set to release February 26, fans were restless through the first stretch of 2026. However, they were far from starved of content; five tracks off the album, loads of concept art, and posts upon posts teasing a rich story kept excitement sky high. Still, some of the band’s recent releases had made fans question their storytelling abilities present throughout mediums like music videos. The highlight of Gorillaz, the overarching story of the animated band members, had slowly grown underwhelming in many’s eyes. Alongside The Mountain’s various sneak peaks, Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlitt made a promise: the album would entail not just music, but a thrilling plotline. One so compelling, it would draw skeptical fans back in. Now that the album is released, the question remains…did they keep their promise?
At the project’s core is a culture rarely highlighted in Western music, that being the Middle East and India. For the most part, it keeps a hold on their newfound synth-pop sound. Alongside this, it adds undertones of traditional Indian music to the familiar style in a fresh product. This blend feels very natural at many points, and…discordant at others.
In The Happy Dictator, choir-like vocals from featured artist Sparks combined with bouncy synths add a profound depth to their pre-existing sound. The Moon Cave adds dramatic strings and bells to a disco pop-esque beat, the product being a euphoric dance tune. The album also knocks it out of the park with beautifully existential lyrics, a prime example being The Sad God’s melancholy reflection; “I gave you white sails to reach the sun/I gave you atoms, you built a bomb”.
However, certain tracks seem to be stuck in genre limbo. Damascus comes off as jarring in its shift from Albarn’s collected tone, to Omar Souleyman’s gritty Arabic rapping. The same occurs with Delirium, and its shouty, grating Mark E. Smith feature. The few tracks that don’t maintain the album’s delicate balancing act feel sort of confused about their identity. But doesn’t even that fact reflect the lyrics’ themes to a tea (humanity, life, loss, and rebirth)? As intriguing as many fans found the album’s sound, Damon Albarn’s promise remained in their heads. The deluxe music video, featuring the animated band members front and center, was perhaps what they anticipated the most.
On January 27th, the day after the album’s US release, a combined music video for The Mountain, The Moon Cave, and The Sad God released. To fans’ shock, it was made almost entirely using hand-drawn, 2D animation. Its style is greatly inspired by The Jungle Book and other classic Disney films. The video itself sees the band members venturing through a jungle towards the titular mountain. They each go on a separate path of self-discovery, reuniting in a journey of nostalgia, death, and rebirth. Fans were in awe of its profoundness and visual beauty, while forming their own ideas on what truly occurred amongst the characters. It also served as a gorgeous slap to AI’s infiltration of modern art. Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlitt have remained very open about their belief that true art is only produced by a human’s passion. Not only are the project’s themes grounded in Albarn and Hewlitt’s mourning of their parents, but it embraces an art style that AI can’t authentically recreate.
By creating an album so utterly human in an era of machine-made art, Gorillaz successfully enticed skeptical fans, expanding their fanbase wider than ever. It isn’t certain if more visual content for The Mountain will be released, as the deluxe music video took great time and money to produce. However, fans’ enthusiasm has reached a high not seen since over 15 years ago. Whatever else awaits for Gorillaz, it’s safe to say they have tens of millions in anticipation thanks to this new chapter.