After a week of rumours and teaser clips, Gorillaz have provided details of their new project Song Machine.
The virtual band have always operated in a deviant fashion, but Song Machine goes further than before. Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett have decided to circumvent the traditional album release format. Instead, Song Machine is a music and cartoon series that’ll roll out over the course of 2020.
The show’s first episode drops on Thursday at 7.30pm (GMT). For us, that’s 6.30am Friday (AEDT). It’ll centre on the track ‘Momentary Bliss’, which features Northampton MC slowthai and British punks Slaves. Check out a snippet below.
Watch: Gorillaz – ‘Momentary Bliss’ Official Trailer
“In direct opposition to the usual traditional recording/single/album release cycle, the band again breaks convention in their own round the back door fashion with the spontaneous delivery of episodes throughout the year,” said Gorillaz’s official statement.
No details of future guests are available yet, but the band is promising to work with an “ever-evolving roster.” Each episode of Song Machine will be supplemented by a Machine Bitez clip, which are “bitesized conversations between cartoon band members and real life collaborators.” Machine Bitez #1 can be viewed now.
Watch: Machine Bitez #1 with 2D, Murdoc & Russel
It’s not the first time slowthai and Slaves have worked together. Slaves appeared on ‘Missing’ from slowthai’s debut LP, Nothing Great About Britain. Band members Laurence Vincent and Isaac Holman also received co-writing and co-production credits for the song.
Gorillaz finished up the 2010s with the documentary film Reject False Idols. The band’s last album was 2018’s The Now Now. It came just 12 months after the 2017 release Humanz, which ended a six year hiatus.
Love Classic Rock?
Get the latest Classic Rock news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more
Humanz featured guests such as Vince Staples, Popcaan, Danny Brown, Kelela, Grace Jones, Mavis Staples, Pusha T, Kali Uchis, Benjamin Clementine, Savages’ Jehnny Beth, long time collaborators De La Soul, and Albarn’s former arch nemesis Noel Gallager.
