By shelz.

The development of Damon Albarn’s Gorillaz has been a convoluted journey.  The animated band was conceived as a jab at the shrinking creativity and depth of the MTV music set, gathering all that he saw as disposable and tossing it back at the fans in a tongue and cheek sort of way. Evolution has not changed that philosophy, however it has broadened the scope of the message and this time around Albarn, partner in animation, Jamie Hewlett and their ever changing cast of musical characters have pin pointed a new menace in Plastic Beach: technology.

In typical Gorillaz fashion, the album strangely and ironically embraces all that is aurally synthetic while denouncing the new millennium machine of artificiality that makes it possible.  It’s a complex set up made even more intricate by an entire back story that involves the four band members traveling to and setting up shop at Plastic Beach, a place that comes with its own set of strange characters who have learned to exist in a spot free of almost anything organic. This is probably why the album plays like a soundtrack.

Plastic Beach begins with a somber instrumental that creates an opening vision of the crew floating towards the island.  Short, sweet and full of swirling strings, the intro sets you up for the first song “Welcome to the World of Plastic Beach” and Snoop Dogg as one man welcoming committee. A smooth baseline and hovering atmospherics play foundation to the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble’s blare that sounds like brass on auto tune and Snoop as he lays down the laws of the mock land.

The album moves into “White Flag” featuring Kano and Bashy on the Caribbean tinged track that comes complete with a dramatic orchestral opening.  The upbeat song is immediately followed by Albarn’s “Rhinestone Eyes.”  The sparse deadpan foundation is the perfect spot to begin his lament of technological cast offs and the world’s fascination with all that is fake. Nature corrupted, factories polluting the air, rain that resembles rhinestones and he’s just getting started.

“Stylo” continues the nature lover funk with what seems to be a statement about man’s dependence on electricity, ironically spread over an electro beat.  Bobby Womack and Mos Def pitch in to add texture to the relatively flat foundation and Womack sounds a bit amped, but the song lacks energy. De La Soul, along with Gruff Rhys set up a serious idea in “Superfast Jellyfish” with silly construction that almost sounds like a Saturday morning commercial.  This song is about man’s love for everything instant by the way.

Lou Reed on the ironically titled “Some Kind of Nature” is pretty amusing. You can imagine him being Plastic Beach’s curmudgeonly elder statesman who revels in all the non bio-degradable trash the island collects. He even communicates displeasure for the life-giving sun which he believes does nothing except burn the pretty girls and their fake clothes.

Through the rest of the album there is very little veering from the EPA primer type atmosphere.  The title track is a massively cool song full of digital bloops, bleeps and distortion that tackles all the nastiness that floats around in our bodies of water and “Pirate Jet” seems to address problematic drinking water.

Plastic Beach provides massive digital ambiance and lots of dramatic musicianship.  There are plenty of odd feature combinations and Albarn’s shaky delivery runs the spectrum from forceful to an easy murmur that, at times, makes it difficult to understand what he is saying.  This doesn’t always lend itself well to understanding his message considering how cryptic some of the lyrics are.

While the album is quite brilliant in its set up and overall message, the question remains, is it pleasant to listen to? Well, Gorillaz fans will love it.  Many of the pretentious will pretend to and some folks just won’t get it.  The music seems to be a backdrop for the message.  However, even with the juxtaposition of the wide spectrum of elements, Plastic Beach still manages an unexpected cohesiveness.  It’s not preachy but it is very stern in its commitment to concept.  This is not car culture thump or fun clubby pop.  It’s a thinking album and its message supersedes its sound.  The listener’s take on it will simply be dependent on their sonic priorities.

3.75 out of 5

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