Anything could happen to 2-D, Murdoc, Noodle and Russel in the Gorillaz universe. They could be driving through a desert and suddenly find themselves in a high-speed car chase with Bruce Willis hunting them on behalf of a gang of pirates. Jack Black could be jamming on a guitar in Venice Beach, California, with 2-D skating in the background before being rudely tripped by Russel. Green-faced Murdoc could go to jail for smuggling drugs and, for a while, be replaced in the band with Ace, the Gangreen Gang hoodlum from The Powerpuff Girls.
When you love Gorillaz, you become invested in the character lore too. It’s almost like a movie franchise comes to life with each album release. Everything is connected. So when the animated members of the virtual band fled to Mumbai with fake passports after escaping the Forever Cult and subsequent arrest, fans immediately began speculating whether their next chapter would unfold in India.
Co-creators Jamie Hewlett (left) and Damon Albarn pose with Gorillaz’s virtual members. Courtesy of Gorillaz and Reuben Bastienne-Lewis.
Indeed, it did. Early sketches for The Mountain show the quartet inside local trains in Jaipur, on the backs of motorcycles in Haryana, in front of ashrams in Varanasi, rocking mundus and wearing bindis. There’s something mystical about them now. The music, too, seems divinely charged, featuring contributions from Asha Bhosle, Asha Puthli, Ajay Prasanna and others. The Gorillaz co-creators, musician Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett, themselves seem transformed when they speak about the album, India and death, with 2-D, Murdoc, Noodle, Russel and one very special collaborator chiming in.
Vogue India: The Mountain is the title of the album as well as the first song on it. Were you inspired by an actual mountain or a metaphorical one?
