Gorillaz Reach The Top Of 'The Mountain'
Gorillaz announced their return yesterday (11th September 2025) with the release of a new single, 'The Happy Dictator' featuring 80s pop legends Sparks. The single marks the start of a new album cycle for Gorillaz. Their ninth album 'The Mountain' is set for release in March next year.
'The Mountain' is the band's first work since 2023's 'Cracker Island' and marks the first release on the band's own label, KONG.
Described as an “expansive sonic landscape” produced by Gorillaz, James Ford, Samuel Egglenton and Remi Kabaka Jr., plus Argentine producer Bizarrap, The Mountain follows the story of what happens when the animated band of Murdoc Niccals, Russel Hobbs, 2D and Noodle, relocate to Mumbai with the help of four fake passports.
Whilst the animated band embark on a fictional journey, Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett say that the album – recorded in locations such as London, Devon and various places in India – was particularly informed by their joint travels to the “gloriously technicolour” country, but also the personal loss they both experienced during that time.
“It was all like, ‘This is fucking weird, there’s a reason why we’re here,’” Hewlett explains. “Losing our fathers, and losing my mother-in-law, and then being in India as an artist. Visually, if you’re an artist and you go to India and it doesn’t blow your mind, then you must be blind, you know? Everything is insane and rich and colourful and mad and tragic and beautiful.
“Damon worked with a lot of fantastic Indian musicians. We just had the best time, and we were so inspired and excited by the experience.”
Albarn explains that the accumulative effect of grief and sadness “had to play out,” but the pair found comfort in the attitudes towards death in Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism. Reflecting on his own background from a “fundamentally anglo-christian society” it was “very nice,” Albarn continues, “to be able, even on the periphery, to feel a bit of that in context of our own sadness.” Ultimately, the duo had one particular idea in mind for the new album: to make death cool.
“You’re supposed to listen to it from beginning to end,” Hewlett explains of the new album. “What we’re asking is, take the time to sit with your earphones and listen for however long the album is, and look at the artwork, and then just lose yourself in this story. Don’t cherry pick a song, listen to it all. We’re trying to bring back that idea of taking time to invest in something, instead of this culture of scrolling.”
Albarn is like that with all his albums, he confesses, “but this one probably in particular. There’s a message. By the time you get to the last song, which is called ‘The Sad God’, God’s really sad and he’s giving you a list of all the things he’s given. That man’s fucked up.”
As ever with Gorillaz, collaboration is front and centre on The Mountain and the tracklist features an extraordinary list of artists – with performances in five languages – from the likes of IDLES, Paul Simonon, Jalen Ngonda and Johnny Marr, to Ajay Prasanna, Omar Souleyman and Anoushka Shankar. The latter is the daughter of sitar virtuoso, Ravi Shankar, which presented something of a full circle moment to Albarn.
Elsewhere on the album, the multi-generational nature of Gorillaz is also addressed. It was “important to include all the people who died that we’ve known,” explains Albarn. As such, voices of departed collaborators from previous sessions have been woven into the narrative, including Bobby Womack, David Jolicoeur, Dennis Hopper, Mark E Smith, Proof and Tony Allen. “I wanted to bring them into the conversation so that the record carries everybody and the whole history of the band,” he continues. It’s almost like they’re “talking from the other side,” Hewlett adds.
“It’s genuinely… it’s alright,” Albarn says on the album as a whole, never one to blow his own trumpet. For Hewlett, he’s firmly in the camp that it could, possibly, be the best album they’ve ever done. “We’re both having this revelation,” he says, that “we found a really good connection on this one, and everything just seemed to fall into place in the strangest way.”
Following on from the short residency at London's Copper Box Arena in recent weeks, fans will not have to wait to long to see the band again. A UK and Ireland tour has been announced for Spring 2026. Begining in Manchester on March 21st and then culminating with the bands biggest ever headline gig in June at the Tottenham Hostpur Stadium in London.
The four limited-capacity live shows at the Copper Box Arena in London marked Gorillaz’ 25th anniversary. The first show saw them perform their self-titled debut in full, playing ‘Double Bass’ and ‘Ghost Train’ live for the first time ever. The second show saw the band perform 'Demon Days' in full featuring De LA Soul for 'Feel Good Inc' and Bootie Brown for 'Dirty Harry', Shaun Ryder sadly did not appear for 'Dare'
The third show – where they played ‘Plastic Beach’ in its entirety – also saw Gorillaz surprise audiences with ‘The Fall’ tracks ‘Phoner To Arizona’ and ‘California And The Slipping Of The Sun’ live for the first time ever during the encore.
Show number four is where Damon Albarn and band debuted the ninth LP.Fans attending the show weren’t allowed access to their mobile phones, but many took to social media afterwards to share details of the album and the multitude of special guests included on it.