What a mess Cracker Island appears to be. If it were not for the promises of album material that has not yet been filtered through the release schedule, all would be lost for Gorillaz’s latest new piece. It is not planning on breaking new ground by the looks of it, but at least a steady stream of appeasing the fans has been offered up so far. Silent Running does much the same. But this Adeleye Omotayo collaboration feels much more energetic and fundamentally confident in its synth-like stylings than the rest of the tracks released so far. Even then, that confidence is misplaced on a strangely flat mix that does little to appreciate or elevate anything featured on the track.
It is finely put together. Everything flows as it should and gives off the usual run of Gorillaz consistency, but little, if any of it, stands out. Those synth notes go from interesting inclusion to overbearing very quickly, and Silent Running begins to falter toward its end. A shame, too, since Omotayo is one of the most interesting parts of Gorillaz, his work in The Humanz Choir is a constant component of what Gorillaz rely on during their live shows. Now given the chance to step up as one of Gorillaz’s many, often sacrificial featured artists, it is clear that Omotayo is likely the best part of the track. Damon Albarn’s lyrical consistencies have dipped, and Silent Running would be better off if it were as silent as the title suggests.
That lack of quality comes from the mix, a fundamentally strange piece that overlaps and exposes some of the more grating Gorillaz problems. Little focus can be gathered from this track. It begins with a synth piece, it ends with a synth piece, but it is as though it is trying to elevate itself to some form of sophisti-pop that is always going to be out of reach. These lyrics are breezy and light enough to deposit some personal feeling into them, but it is an intentionally broad market that Albarn appeals to. No fundamental statement, just a broad enough lyrical pacing to allow just about anyone to drag whatever meaning they want from the track. Silent Running does not stand for anything, and when the mixing is this poorly layered and the track appears to have no distance left to run, it becomes problematic.
Still, it must be said that Gorillaz are at least experimenting yet again. Whether it works is down to the individual. For those hardcore Gorillaz fans who would unflinchingly defend The Now Now and Song Machine, Season One, then Silent Running will feel right at home. There is a correlation between the post-2010s and this shift into inconsistency. Gorillaz are less biting, no longer as harsh as they once were. In their place, they rely on a faux feeling of nostalgia, for people to point at the slightest change in pitch or tempo and reflect on it as some sort of imagined callback to their glory days. That is not the case, and while Gorillaz can never sever themselves from the past, it does not look like they are doing much to carry any change to their sound in their third decade together. Disappointingly tame is still better than difficult to listen to, there is a silver lining.
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