Gorillaz "The Light" Review

GORILLAZThe Fall

* * * 1/2

The Fall, Damon Albarn`s fourth full-length album under the Gorillaz moniker, consists of fifteen electronic tracks that don`t really do any purpose-the album doesn`t run easily at all, and they absolutely sound like what they are, namely iPad-created experiments created by Albarn on the 2010 Gorillaz American tour.Some of them are rather good; some are unlistenable.

t`s not quite fair to visit The Declivity a Gorillaz album-it`s largely the same care as the G-Sides and D-Sides albums.It`s an album of Albarn`s noodling, plain and simple.

Were this album released by anyone but That Annoying Britpop Dude Who Sold A Million Records, I would indicate it would get a considerable following among indie "chillwave" fans.Hazy electro-Americana tracks like "Little Pink Plastic Bag" or the shockingly beautiful "Amarillo" have everything to do with the new sound currently being pioneered by zany outsider musicians like Baths, Toro Y Moi, and Ariel Pink.On The Fall, Albarn is really much one of those artists, one bored dude working on very personal electronic tunes under a pseudonym.And I suppose you could say he`s not bad at letting his mind loose, as most of the Gorillaz output consists of random ideas that pass to sell millions.

But for what it actually is, it`s excellent.It`s essentially a road journal, and almost of the songs are named after the cities in which they were recorded.Some even feature snippets of local radio broadcasts.You very much get a feel of the Big Wide Open as opposed to the liberty of tiny Britain.And as far as British attempts at Americana go, it`s not bad-just looking at it side-by-side with Mumford and Sons` Sigh No More. The minimalist electro-pop songs on this albums seem deeply personal, as if these were the recordings of any traveler roving across the United States in research of meaning, a new home of bacon, or another gig.

Oh yeah, and the album ends with a transcription of a Yodeling Pickle.