Gorillaz have confirmed their return by asserting their new album The Mountain and a 2026 tour.
Damon Albarn’s band Gorillaz are again with a brand new album and tour
Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett’s band launched new single The Completely happy Dictator – a collaboration with Sparks – on Thursday (11.09.25) and it will likely be adopted by their ninth studio album The Mountain, which can drop on March 20 together with a UK and Eire tour, which kicks off on March 21 in Manchester, England.
The album – which was debuted at a “thriller present” in London earlier this month – was recorded in London, Devon and India with Hewlett revealing the mission was impressed by the pair’s shared grief over misplaced relations. He instructed Rolling Stone: “It was all like: ‘That is f****** bizarre, there’s a cause why we’re right here’.
“Shedding our fathers, and dropping my mother-in-law, after which being in India as an artist. Visually, in the event you’re an artist and also you go to India and it doesn’t blow your thoughts, then you definitely should be blind, you recognize? The whole lot is insane and wealthy and vibrant and mad and tragic and delightful.
“Damon labored with lots of improbable Indian musicians. We simply had the most effective time, and we have been so impressed and excited by the expertise.”
Hewlett beforehand instructed the publication the album was designed to be listened to from begin to end and urged followers take heed to the entire file so as as a substitute of cherry-picking their favorite songs.
He defined: “You’re alleged to take heed to it from starting to finish. What we’re asking is, take the time to sit down along with your earphones and pay attention for nonetheless lengthy the album is, and take a look at the paintings, after which simply lose your self on this story.
“Don’t cherry decide a tune, take heed to all of it. We’re attempting to deliver again that concept of taking time to spend money on one thing, as a substitute of this tradition of scrolling.”
The album options collaborations with artists together with IDLES, Paul Simonon, Johnny Marr and Anoushka Shankar, with Damon admitted he was thrilled to work along with her as a result of he liked listening to her father Ravi Shankar’s music when he was rising up.
Damon admitted the collaboration gave him a connection to his father Keith, who died final 12 months.
He instructed the publication: “I most likely listened to Ravi Shankar earlier than I listened to The Beatles once I was a child … [So] to have Anoushka Shankar on the file shouldn’t be solely an actual privilege, however the reference to my dad and his love of Ravi Shankar is nice.”
Gorillaz will play on the Pulse of Gaia Pageant in Madrid, Spain on September 20 earlier than kicking off The Mountain Tour on the Co-Op Reside venue in Manchester, England on March 21.
The tour will characteristic stops in Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Cardiff, Nottingham, Liverpool, Belfast and Dublin earlier than wrapping in London on the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on June 20.
