"In the space of 10 days, both men's fathers died, and the second visit took on an air of somber pilgrimage. Albarn swam in the Ganges, scattered his father's ashes into its mythology. Somewhere along the way, he settled on a concept for The Mountain, the follow-up to 2023's pallid Cracker Island."
"As well as recruiting a suite of classical Indian orchestra, he would raid his archives for unreleased recordings by deceased Gorillaz collaborators, enacting a convocation of souls. To Albarn, The Mountain was a humble meditation on grief, samsara-style, tinged with his artist father's fascination with Indian music and culture."
"This willful overreach is more or less business as usual for Albarn and his old housemate Hewlett, who, by conceiving this cartoon combo of multiracial punks in 1998, advanced a vision of pop hybridity that anticipated our age of cultural superabundance. Outstepping their lot as two white Brits was always part of the calculation."
Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett planned creative trips to India to develop new material. During their visits, both men's fathers died within ten days, transforming the journey into a spiritual pilgrimage. Albarn scattered his father's ashes in the Ganges and conceived The Mountain, a follow-up to Cracker Island. The album features classical Indian orchestras and archival recordings from deceased Gorillaz collaborators. Albarn framed the project as a meditation on grief and samsara, influenced by his father's fascination with Indian music. Hewlett created accompanying artwork. The collaboration reflects their established pattern of cultural hybridity and artistic ambition that defined Gorillaz since 1998.
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