Eli London
Dreamy synth and rooted bass make the perfect combination for Gorillaz’s co-creator Damon Albarn to recount a surreal meeting with royalty in their new track Baby Queen.
Back in 1997, front-man Albarn was playing in Blur, and there he had an unlikely encounter with a 14-year-old Thai royal.
Recalling the event in an interview with L.A. Times, Albarn reminisced on the memory of the crown princess being seated on a throne next to the mixing desk, “surrounded by I don’t know how many soldiers”.
He wrote and produced the record after dreaming of the princess grown-up, into a queen recently.
‘Dream-Like Escapism’
“a real feast for my sensory-seeking self”
Baby Queen is 3 minutes and 41 seconds of dream-like escapism, presumably influenced by Albarn’s stimuli for the track. I’m a big bass lover, and my neurodivergent brain feeds off of layering- so this track is a real feast for my sensory-seeking self.
The track has an ephemeral, whimsical feel that takes me back to Plastic Beach (2010), and 2-D’s vocals are filled with nostalgia, almost emotional whilst verbally recalling the memory.
The song goes on to describe how, at the drop of Blur’s Song 2, how in his words, the princess “stood on her throne and stage-dived into the crowd”.
A story if, you’re anyone other than Albarn, is pretty reminiscent of the truly unreal stuff that happens in dreams.
Ready For Repeating
It’s one of those tracks, like many classic Gorillaz tunes, that you could listen to on repeat for hours and not realise you’ve listened more than once.
It balances the up-tempo, purposeful walking groove of New Gold and the funk-veiled darkness of the ‘forever cult’ of Cracker Island beautifully, and I am ready for the full album.
“remaining unapologetically weird”
As a lifelong Gorillaz fan, they haven’t let me down yet, they truly have a gift for giving us exactly what we need throughout the years, whilst remaining unapologetically weird.
Unlike recent previews, New Gold and the title track, Cracker Island, Baby Queen broke the streak of weeks of teasers on TikTok and other social media.
Their new album, Cracker Island, which features the likes of Adeleye Omotayo, Stevie Nicks and Tame Impala, releases on the 24th of February 2023.
Featured image courtesy of Kacper Borucki via Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes have been made to this image.
