Gorillaz – Plastic Beach Review

Hand Damon Albarn a copy of Garage Band and a beat-up iPad and he will whittle the hours away making new material for Gorillaz. If the Blur frontman could be tricked into an empty, padded room where there was nothing but a collection of Casio presets, listeners could feast on new work from Gorillaz on an almost weekly basis. There could be a sliding window where spot-check guests are planted, be it Lou Reed of The Velvet Underground or Mark E. Smith of The Fall, as happens here on Plastic Beach. What a pull Albarn has – his animated project scorched the Earth back at the turn of the century and a decade on has much to prove still – though it has fallen from this lofty height since.  

Those tech turns, the repetition on the Snoop Dogg-featuring Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach, are a healthy and synth-laden experience to open the album up. Plastic Beach is not a tough piece to crack, and its themes are on the nose enough to enjoy from the get-go. Environmentalism and all those risible, rising troubles which stick around fourteen years after its release. Even then, the likes of White Flag feel completely off-centre – more a Bashy and Kano piece recorded next door than a Gorillaz project. Albarn finds a spot to lead the vocals on the tinny and warped wonders of Rhinestone Eyes – those routines and flimsy idols need tearing down, Albarn warns of the corrupted nature we settle into and clicks on from there. His first fearful warning has plenty of power to it though the impact is questionable as he preaches to the converted and rails against those who will take no notice of Gorillaz and their pleading powers. 

Brooding horrors about the world ahead are continued on the Bobby Womack and Mos Def-featuring Stylo, which has plenty of style and steady ramblings from Womack, who gets the horrors of the world around him off his chest. Surprising influences feature later with Little Dragon’s addition to Empire Ants, this desire to be out in the sun and the twinkling, calming nature it should bring. Bottle it up and keep it with you, Gorillaz warn, as it may not be around for much longer. There is a flowing innocence and openness featured within this, as well as the rest of the album, which is hard to find in the later releases of Gorillaz – their laid-back and mellow appeal here is shattering. Mark E. Smith makes for a thrilling rush on Glitter Freeze while the best of Lou Reed is pulled from Some Kind of Nature.  

Despite all these collaborations it can be argued Plastic Beach is strongest when it is Albarn in an isolated state. Rhinestone Eyes and On Melancholy Hill still stand tall as some of their best bits. There is a lack of confidence from the man who started this all in his own abilities, and Plastic Beach would precede a slippery slope into relying on the shining star power of included artists. Cling to the big band appeal of Sweepstakes, dependent on its Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, whose conduct here is marvellous to listen to. Gorillaz shed their boyish attitudes which was a fun experiment on their first two records and hear a recharged Albarn take aim at environmental issues. It was the last time Gorillaz were relevant, and after the work on Cracker Island, remains so.