With Cracker Island, Gorillaz releases an eighth album, his third in three years. Again, there are prestigious collaborations, including Thundercat, Stevie Nicks, Beck, Bad Bunny, Tame Impala. As usual, there are also catchy tracks made to perfection. Unfortunately, Gorillaz does not reinvent itself and falls into a boring redundancy.
As long as being so prolific, it would have been much more relevant to come to us with material that is worth the trouble. Cracker Island is not completely devoid of it, but rare are the moments when one has the impression that listening is particularly worth it. Some tracks seem to be tracks left out of the selection for previous albums. It’s that repetitive.
It’s not always a flaw, uniqueness is a good thing for many artists, but in this case, it’s definitely a criticism: Gorillaz sounds way too much like Gorillaz. The distinct touch of his alternative rock and electro, funky and hip-hop at the same time, is found somewhat diluted in these tracks which bring nothing new. Fans of the group will probably be happy to receive new material that will not confuse them in any way. But, objectively, Cracker Island is an album that we could probably have done without, which doesn’t cause a stir.
That said, none of the ten tracks that make up the album is inherently bad. On the contrary. The title track, featuring Thundercat, is an example of what Gorillaz does best. The catchy New Goldwith Tame Impala and Bootie Brown, skillfully mixes genres, just like Oilbringing a rock touch thanks to the presence of Stevie Nicks.
Tormenta, in collaboration with Bad Bunny, is one of the only pieces that stands out from the crowd. The reason is simple: it doesn’t really sound like a collaboration, just like a good Bad Bunny reggaeton song.
On a more positive note, to conclude: Damon Albarn, the musician behind the Gorillaz project, is a genius. When the band’s next album arrives, we’ll be listening, confident that high-quality compositions are likely to fall on us. Let’s just hope that Albarn, by then, will have understood that there is a limit to the repetitive use of the same recipe, however delicious it may be.
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Cracker Island
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