Gorillaz have delivered another slice of their upcoming album ‘The Mountain’ with ‘Damascus’, a collaboration with hip-hop legend Yasiin Bey and prolific, Syrian singer Omar Souleyman.
The fourth single from the record continues down the two-forked path that previous tracks have established: a heavy influence of Asian music and culture (with the track drawing from the dabke style that Souleyman is known for) and looking back to the band’s past records for inspiration.
Not only does ‘Damascus’ sample an old demo from the third Gorillaz album, ‘Plastic Beach’, on its intro, but Yasiin Bey previously worked with the group on two highlights from that record as well.
While those previous singles were catchy in their own right, ‘Damascus’ is probably the most ear-wormy and dancey Gorillaz have been since their ‘Song Machine’ project, no small feat considering their previous albums' modern synthpop leanings.
Bey’s repetition of “New arrivals / fresh survival” on the hook makes for a simple but infectious chant, and Souleyman’s musings on love that link different portions of the verses make for an intriguing contrast to the track's main focus on immigration.
‘Damascus’ is a brilliant, bi-lingual bop of a track. Bey and Souleyman work shockingly well together on Gorillaz’ meshing of hip-hop and dabke dance music, a furthering of the stylistic experimentation that Damon Albarn and co. have been exploring throughout this album cycle.
‘The Mountain’ is still a couple of months away, set to release on February 27th next year, and this track is so memorable that it’ll still be stuck in our heads by then.