I have listened to Gorillaz Plastic Beach a lot since I bought it in March. Although Plastic Beach couldn't trump my love for Demon Days, it still tells a cohesive and imaginative narrative. The story extracted from Damon Albarn and co's newest album depends on the listener, but, there is no denying the presence of a story there.
As a person who is passionate about the creative process, I always try to figure out the motivation of my favorite artists. What gets Albarn from no sound at all to the wide range of aural style he is able to create here? I figure some musicians start with a rhythm or a chord progression and build outwards incorporating different instruments that compliment their original sonic idea. Another method could be starting with a narrative that inspires the music's direction.
Albarn might use both methods to write his music, but, Plastic Beach is definitely constructed on the foundation of a linear story. His story is made of moods, characters, and themes to which Albarn expresses through music. As a result, I have chosen to review this album by telling the Story I Heard while listening to Plastic Beach.
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Part 1 of 16
Introduction: "Orchestral Intro" (Featuring sinfonia VIVA)
Gorillaz:: Orchestral Intro (Featuring sinfonia VIVA)If you’ve ever found yourself wondering what you could have done differently so as not to stand in your current situation then you understand my predicament precisely. To make a long story short, there is a painting. A painting that looked like it was worth no more than an eye sore or cluttered garage so I threw it away. It bore no absolute significance until one night, as I watched the news, a few aching words chased one another across the bottom of my television screen: “Money Hidden Inside Lost Painting.” In some cruel twist of fate, the painting lost was the painting tossed. Not seconds after those words ran, a treasure hunt was set ablaze all throughout the immediate region of Normalcy. Every man, woman, and child took to every garbage heap, every pawn shop, every museum, even their neighbors’ homes in search of the money within this painting; art that I was the last to see and that is well on its way to Plastic Beach.
Plastic Beach, much like the money inside the painting, is rumored to hold all of Normalcy’s garbage. It is where all of the things that complicate our lives are sent to be forgotten and never seen again. So it is said, but never actually seen. There is no commercial water travel to Plastic Beach because most corporations and governments deny it exists. Although this place is refused, with some investigation I found that imagination and sense of adventure are still alive in some. With a flimsy lead, I stand amongst many at the busy Normalcy harbor as the cacophony of the seaport orchestrates into a symphony that should score the most romantic departure. There is no certainty, no true liaison, no set path; the only way to Plastic Beach is with the aid from a group of radicals that call themselves the Gorillaz.
