'Plastic Beach' demonstrates Gorillaz' ability to succeed without really trying
It's as though Damon Albarn found a pamphlet on the ground titled "How to Succeed In Music Without Really Trying." On his third outing as Gorillaz, he seems to have honed in on specific aspects of the Gorillaz sound, decided he'd like to go further with his guest spot fetish, and sort of let of everything fall into place from there.
Plastic Beach is apparently meant as some future dystopia warning concept album deriding an ultra-capitalist world where everything is bought and sold and people are made servile in their belief that eventually all their hopes will magically come true. Hence the title, etc. It's extremely well-worn territory, but luckily the last thing Albarn would do in a Gorillaz album is take himself too seriously. And that's part of the problem here.
For example, the album opens with a beautiful orchestral introduction, soft horns ringing chords under a beautiful string melody which then fades into cheesy synth horns and a drum machine - and this won't be nearly the first time you hear that sound palate. The very next track is "White Flag," which pulls nearly the same bait and switch: a heavily arranged orchestral interlude performed by the Lebanese National Orchestra gives way to a goofy rap track based on that same cheesy drum machine.
Perhaps it's supposed to be part of the whole message: Albarn wants to tease us with pretty organic sounds before subjecting us to incomparable synthetic tones to show us that we are neglecting nature in our mad rat race plastic beach something something. Who cares? The point is the brilliance of Gorillaz and Demon Days was Albarn's precise knowledge of when and how to mix and mash synthetic sounds against organic ones.
And, in fairness, when he does -- it's great. Album standout "Sweepstakes" sort of tumbles on with Mos Def at the helm until Hypnotic Brass Ensemble's horns and drum crash the party and inject some energy. Low energy works elsewhere on the album, particularly during Lou Reed's verses over warm piano chords on "Some Kind of Nature." All in all, Albarn is an artist less than concerned with putting out the next hit record, with the kind of license to get away with an album like this. Most Gorillaz fans will listen to it enough times to find something to like about each track, mainstream listeners wouldn't have given it a chance without another "Feel Good, Inc." and that's probably what Albarn gets for recording an album that sounds just like the soul-devoid dystopia he warns against.