The Gorillaz might have easily followed the one-off tendencies of their first producer, Dan the Automator, when posed with the task of creating a sophomore effort that could hold a candle to their first release. That self-titled album slyly defied genre while presenting an intelligent yet danceable piece of pop culture.Thankfully, the band of undead cartoon characters has graced us with a second-coming, Demon Days. As unlikely as a resurrection, the album actually proves itself worthy of its predecessor. It achieves this outcome by retaining a certain amount of sonic references to the Gorillaz repertoire while not trying too hard to sound like the first album.
This is even more amazing in light of the fact that Demon Days serves as the major label debut of hip-hop producer Danger Mouse. Most would recognize DM’s work only from background music made for Cartoon Network’s Toonami and pirated copies of a mash-up LP – The Grey Album – that combined the lyrics of Jay-Z’s Black Album with beats lifted from The Beatles’ White Album. Predictably, the latter work made it to only 3000 copies before EMI served Danger Mouse with a cease and desist order.*
DM takes the place of the Automator, who – like most of the original collaborators – does not make a showing on the new album. In fact, one of the sole founding artists on Demon Days is Damon Albarn (Blur), who provides lead vocals on most of the tracks.
The genius of Demon Days resides in how much it pushes the boundaries of the landmark sound created on Gorillaz while still sounding like a Gorillaz album. Standing in stark contrast with the sparse instrumentation on the debut album , the new work offers string sections on many tracks as well as performances by the London Community Gospel Choir and the San Fernandez Children’s Choir.
The first single, “Dirty Harry,” indicates the weather change by presenting a beat reminiscent of “The Message” but promptly layering it with choral voices and string melodies. This would be eclectic enough for most, but the Gorillaz feel the need to throw a laid-back Old Soul organ in the background and truncate the whole thing with a crunching hip-hop cameo by rapper Bootie Brown. Despite all of this, the track never sounds busy or contrived.
This sense of focus is also apparent in the bouncy house sound of “Dare,” which demonstrates that the Gorillaz can still embrace a stripped-down electronic sound. This track, as well as “Dirty Harry” and “Feel Good, Inc.” provide fun respites in an album that is a bit more sober than the first (though not nearly the gloomy opus some critics purport).
The more serious side of the group becomes evident on such tracks as “Kids With Guns,” “O Green World,” and “El Mañana.” These moments reveal a group that has become, at times, more reserved in both mood and music.
As with the first album, Demon Days brings together a wide variety of performers from diverse fields. Dennis Hopper narrates the sci-fi story that is “Fire Coming Out Of The Monkey’s Head” (part of a three song medley in which the Gorillaz dangerously flirt with a more melodramatic style) while Ike Turner and De La Soul also contribute their talents to the album.
The sum effect of this varied sonic palette is an album that feels very liberated. The Gorillaz celebrate music, concerning themselves with sound – not how that sound is made or what genre it fits into. This is what makes the album worth owning. It keeps you guessing, and anyone expecting a repeat of the first album may be disappointed. Anyone expecting an album worthy of the virtues exhibited on the first album will most certainly get their money’s worth.
*Renko Heuer, “Brian Burton is Danger Mouse…Snatching Heads Back In Time,” Wax Poetics, issue 8 (2004): 10-14.
