They'll never forget you 'til somebody new comes along are clairvoyant words of Glenn Frey that he sang in New Kid in Town from the legendary album Hotel California. Do you remember the era when Gorillaz were the most respected music band on earth? Me neither.
Damon Albarn is an eclectic music composer who likes to play with a bunch of different genres, so after the album Everyday Robots and Blur's comeback music, he found time for Gorillaz projects. Humanz appears as an album by New-Kid-In-Town-Albarn who instantly became popular in the hood and everybody is coming down his house to meet him. He has a lot of guests on Humanz - from Mavis Staples to Grace Jones and Benjamin Clementine.
Albarn loves and composes dance music with emphasis on electronic dance and disco. On Humanz, we can also notice rap and some contemporary subgenres. There are also plethora of references to his mother band, everything packed together into a compact melting pot. Humanz is a summer album that is not too frenetic nor too deep. Diverse melodies and rhythms sound best in contemplative songs that have less summer spices and more authentic ingredients. I have a feeling like he is saving authenticity for some other projects.
Second half of the album sounds the best, Busted and Blue and Andromeda in particular, and they deserve to be surrounded by tunes that are not just filler mediocre numbers. Or maybe I just enjoyed The Magic Whip and EverydayRobots more and now everything here sounds trashy in comparison?
The very end of the record is an absolute zenith, a collaboration with super talented Benjamin Clementine on a song Hallelujah Money. Closing track We Got The Power brings sentimental surprise with Noel Gallagher who provides background vocals. It doesn't matter that the song is not that good. The sentiment in it is important. I mean, the whole album is not that good, but we should applaud to Albarn's effort to come up with the ultimate summer album.
