Death looms large over The Mountain, not as utter bleak finality but as transcendence. The opening title track here - along with some lovely hand-painted artwork by Jamie Hewlett - sets the sonic scene with Indian musicians Ajay Prasanna, Anoushka Shankar (daughter of the revered sitar legend Ravi), Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangash, bringing the epic beauty to a track rooted in grief and rage but aiming so high it wants to reach the dead. In this track’s case it finds Dennis Hopper, the film star who knew plenty about rage and highs in his time.
Damon Albarn lost his father ahead of the making of this album, and mourned his loss in India, where Hewlett too lost a family member in the same period. The country thus informs the sound and spiritual searching across this album - with the conceit for the Gorillaz characters being on the run from the law and heading on a manga-style quest into the subcontinent - yet any fears of hippie pretension are quickly dispelled. This long and ambitious album - 15 tracks - retains the playful culture clashing that has made Gorillaz such a worldwide hit machine over the last 25 years.
