Gorillaz Fall Short With “Cracker Island”

Gorillaz is a virtual band created by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett. Albarn is in control of all things music and Hewlett focuses on the graphics for the band. The band is fronted by four virtual members, 2D, Murdoc, Noodle and Russel, each with their own distinct personality and backstory.

Leading up to the release of Cracker Island, fans were caught up on the lives of the four members. The theme of this album is how they formed a cult, “The Last Cult” specifically. This personally wasn’t my favorite concept for the band to take. I much rather prefer the themes of older albums of theirs, such as “Plastic Beach”. The beginning of this era was introduced in their 2021 EP, “Meanwhile”.

The album was fronted with five singles: “Cracker Island,” “New Gold,” “Baby Queen,” “Skinny Ape,” and “Silent Running”.

Cracker Island was the lead single, which came out in June, and it is very catchy. Every time I listen to it I find myself humming the chorus for the rest of the day. It was definitely on repeat when it first came out, but as time has gone on and more singles have been released, I find myself playing this less and less.

One thing that I can always enjoy about Gorillaz is how the music videos add to the story of the band’s phase. Cracker Island’s video begins with 2D being wheeled into a hospital waiting room and being questioned by police. The video keeps you asking and confused for its entirety, with Noodle and Russel also showing up often, but we don’t have any idea of what they are doing. To top off the confusion of this video, Murdoc comes in at the end and unites with a sheet ghost that is randomly in the video. But for me, this confusion wasn’t bad. It left you on the edge of your seat and excited to discover what was happening, which I hoped the fans would find out through more music videos. I really enjoyed the guest appearance from Thundercat in the video and his vocals and bass on the track.

Before the album I didn’t listen to “Baby Queen” too much but listening to it more now, I actually like it a lot. The chorus is very catchy, and I found myself turning it up when it plays.

Of the songs that weren’t singles, “Possession Island” was my favorite. The song featured Beck and was a slower moment on the album. I liked it as a closer and the lyrics were soft and simple, but made you think. However, like the other singles, you could barely hear Beck when he was singing in unison with 2D.

Gorillaz albums are chock full of guest appearances. This album featured artists like Stevie Nicks, Tame Impala and Bad Bunny, but I feel like the songs didn’t live up to the hype of having such great artists as features. Nicks was drowned out in her song “Oil” and I almost forgot she was a feature.

This was very disappointing because the band has had some amazing features on albums like “Plastic Beach” and “Humanz” with artists such as Snoop Dog, De La Soul, Vince Staples, Kali Uchis and DRAM.

The singles from the album were definitely the best parts, and I felt like the other songs weren’t very memorable at all. I honestly don’t think I’ll return to songs like “Oil” or “Tormenta”. These songs were fine, but nothing outstanding to make me come back to them or make them stick in my head.

Ultimately, this album seemed weak compared to their other work, which took better advantage of their features and the actual music was a little better. Gorillaz has been so successful in the past with all aspects of the band, from background, music, lyrics and features, but “Cracker Island” was honestly lackluster. Overall I would give this about a 5/10, and I would urge someone to listen to an older album to get introduced to the band.