For the past 25 years, Gorillaz has delivered some of the most influential and imaginative music of the 21st century, with a catalog that’s as bold as it is diverse. From mainstream hits such as “Clint Eastwood” and “Feel Good Inc.” to their magnum opus album “Plastic Beach,” Gorillaz was a major force in the alternative music scene for nearly a decade.
Just when they were at their peak around 2010, they entered a seven-year-long hiatus and have since reemerged with a slew of new projects, such as the albums “Humanz” and “The Now Now” and a collection of singles titled “Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez.” While these projects brought a handful of acclaimed tracks for the band, the reception of them overall has been somewhat mixed.
In 2022, Gorillaz began dropping single after single to build up hype for their newest album, titled “Cracker Island.” After 6 singles, the 10 track album dropped in Februrary, compiling those previous singles with 4 new songs. This time around, the album goes for a cult theme, specifically focusing that aesthetic through the perspective of life in L.A. With a sound revolving around electronic-funk fusion — and an added dose of 80’s synth-pop — the project seemed primed to deliver a sleek and energized auditory experience.
The results, however, somewhat continue Gorillaz’ trend of delivering mixed-bags. This is less like a wild night-out in So-Cal that ends in glorious mayhem and more like falling asleep in the back of your Uber during an Anaheim traffic jam. It sounds dreamlike and soothing, but it falters when it comes to remaining wholly engaging.
The highlight of the album is undoubtedly the opening title-track, “Cracker Island,” featuring Thundercat. Energized, lavish and infectiously catchy, this track has it all, giving the same creative flair that defined the best of the band’s earlier works. It’s a banger that succeeds in getting the listener hyped for what’s to come. It’s a shame, then, that after this point, nothing on the rest of the project is really able to reach those same heights.
While no track on the album is outright bad, they mostly fall into being comfortably “fine,” and, at their worst, boring. Outside of some brief bursts of energy — “Oil”, the previously mentioned “Cracker Island” and the latter half of “Skinny Ape” — the tracks on display here can come off like they’re on autopilot, never really changing mood and sounding a bit samey.
The lack of sonic diversity contributes to that feeling. This is easily the least experimental Gorillaz project to date, with most of the album sticking hard to that smooth sounding electro-funk and not bothering to mix that many other styles. It makes the project sound static and lacks the dynamic inventiveness that Gorillaz does best.
Again though, none of what’s on display here sounds bad or unbearable in any way; Individually, I could tolerate any of these songs just fine, and, depending on the track, more than tolerate them. But as a complete listen, they run out of steam well before the finale, even with the overall runtime being a mere 37 minutes.
“Cracker Island” isn’t close to the worst Gorillaz project, but it’s still far from the heights of their most ambitious. It’s a decent record, but in the scope of the band’s discography, it’s likely the most middle-of-the-pack to date.
