Gorillaz – The Fall Review

Look at those vacant, stunned eyes. The Fall must be given some leniency considering much of it was made on an iPad by a bored Damon Albarn, struggling to keep himself awake and in touch as the Gorillaz outfit toured the United States. Being locked in a van for most days of the week, travelling the great US of A must be a dull experience for a man who is used to flavourful foods and a quicker mode of transportation to and from gigs. But The Fall strips back Gorillaz, for the first time, to an almost independent-of-influence release. An in-house selection of tracks made on the fly – and it certainly sounds it. Opener Phoner to Arizona still sounds like eerie title menu music for a forgotten relic and says much about where Albarn found himself after the acclaim of Plastic Beach.  

Amazing what you can do with Garage Band, then. This is what the bedroom tech wizards were hoping for. There is less of a smugness to it now these systems have developed further, and the instrumental spring of interest in the likes of Revolving Doors and The Parish of Space Dust tap into the empty days of hotels, humming engines and on-stage thrills. But the likes of HillBilly Man, which feel out of step and a bit tonally indifferent when the thump of electronic brass parps filter through, let The Fall down. Mellow tones mark the likes of Shy-town, and the frequent attempts to get a city name or state in the title are a neat touch for geographical locations, and mean there are legs to claims of it being an on-the-road creation.  

Only the Bobby Womack-featuring Bobby in Phoenix has any flicker of the “feat” project which would soon overtake all Gorillaz had tried to work toward. Escape through the stormy rain. It feels like a genuine invitation from the soulful voice of a legend. Acoustic flourishes added in are the neat foundation needed to elevate the vocal range, and soon it is back to the likes of California and the Slipping of the Sun. Even then there is a sense of instrumental glory on earlier pieces like The Snake in Dallas or The Speak It Mountains – off-kilter numbers even for Gorillaz who hope to keep the shadows of the road at bay. Those tech flusters feel well-rooted and almost like an escape for Albarn. Inevitably, they provide the same feel for listeners. 

Yes, there is a sense of irony to this being the last creatively interesting Gorillaz project – but The Fall does mark the slide into the depths of mediocrity for a project which had clearly taken something out of its creator. Bobby in Phoenix may be one of the best Gorillaz tracks of all to feel nothing at all like an Albarn and Jamie Hewlett creation. There are still the buzzes and flickers of the animated band but the flow into this final stretch is incredible and sincere. Sincere. Therein lies the problem for Gorillaz now. They have lost their touch with the soul and severed their ties with the embrace that great music of an independent, featureless creation can bring. The Fall may peak intermittently but it feels like the last grand push from a band which was soon to find itself shining its star with bigger names for the sake of collaboration and not for the music.