Gorillaz is an electro-pop band that was formed way back in 1998. They are a digital band made up of the fictional members: 2D, Murdoc, Noodle, and Russle Hobbs.  They exist in a fictional universe meant for their songs, they’ve done this with all of their albums but mostly in G Sides, Demon Days, and Plastic Beach.

Throughout quarantine, Gorillaz has been working on their new album, even if it has come with some struggles with getting the guest stars of the songs, the album has come out with some really great songs. The production of the album Song Machine started on January 30th 2020, just a month or so before the cancellation of school. During this time they slowly started releasing more songs that were focused on the idea of having more guest features. The first of which being “Momentary Bliss,” which released on the first day of production it placed 11th out of the 17 songs they’ve made, unfortunately.

Below are the top four songs of their album:

1.Désolé, 13,353,930 views on YouTube

This song holds a primary focus on the main singer of the group 2-D, with the guest (Fatoumata Diawara) only providing some background vocals for the song as 2-D sings, Personally I do not like this song too much I don’t like the beat as its taken very slowly so it doesn’t match up with both the guest’s and 2-D’s voice but 2-D’s voice was very beautiful in this song as usually he sings more but in this song he takes everything a bit slower kinda out of character but it makes the song interesting so it’s not the worst song of the album, also it’s rumored that the song is about recovering from a drug addiction due to 2-D’s teeth looking better in this video as well as the song being focused on the word Désolé which is French for Sorry

2.Momentary Bliss, 12,494,890 views on YouTube

This song is my second favorite of the album taking a focus on the guitarist and singer of the group being 2-D and Noodle, but the guest takes up most of the song and his lyrics aren’t the best at the start but besides that he has a great voice whilst rapping and it fits the beat perfectly, 2-D provides great background vocals and Noodle and the guest guitarist help make the beat even better keeping a constant loop on their strumming that is so catchy it doesn’t get old. I love this song even though it kinda has a techno feel which does not peak my interest usually but I love this song no matter what even if it takes a bit to get used to.

3.Pac-Man, 10,676,107 views on YouTube

Pac-Man is my favorite song of the album, even if it takes a more techno theme but it takes it slow with the beat and the vocals resulting in a catchy tune but near the end it cuts to the guest who starts rapping to the techno theme which does not interest me as much really but the theme behind the video is very interesting showing 2-D playing Pac Man as he sings down the line the artists confirmed he was playing to deal with stress. I like how they used everything to make the beat like they timed the drums being hit with one of their characters punching a punching bag.

4.Aries, 9,608,726 views on YouTube

This is another song that takes a couple listens to get used to, but the song is fairly calming once you get farther into it. There is another guest for this song, but the main focus of this song is 2-D. It’s  another slow type song, so it contains techno elements,  but the beat and vocals are slow, so  it is more enjoyable.  Although it might not be the best song in the album, it definitely deserves a top spot. It should at least be given a listen due to it being fairly short and catchy.

The album itself is beautiful, and worth a listen just for these four songs itself! Out of all of the Gorillaz albums, I have to say this might be one of the best ones, right up there with Demon Days and Plastic Beach.  The main focus of this album was to have guests appear in each song to take a main role, and I think that’s amazing as they have never really done anything like this before, and on top of that it’s done fairly well. Most of the songs had an amazing tone with their artists, even if some of them have a small spot in songs they were still beautiful in their own way.

Even if some of the songs didn’t take off as much as the others, the album is still filled with other amazing songs that deserve the recognition of both non-Gorillaz fans and Gorillaz fans alike due to 2-D having an amazing voice. People may possibly have an interest in the guest artists that they feature.

I’d give this album a 8/10. Usually  I wouldn’t like techno based albums, but it’s done so well in this album, that I can’t even complain about it. Out of all 17 songs, I only disliked about two or three. Some songs might take a bit to get used to but they all are beautiful in their own ways no matter how anybody puts it.