Momentary Bliss, an apt title for Gorillaz latest track featuring slowthai and Slaves. A wonderfully strange blend of catchy hip hop beats and hypnotic indie guitar work, this track is both danceable and moshable. But then again, who else but Gorillaz could pull off such a feat? (on a side note, I’m both amused and impressed by the fact that Gorillaz is a name so legendary that even Microsoft Word considers it a real word)
Now I know Gorillaz and slowthai purely by reputation (beyond, of course, the experience that is Feel Good Inc) but I’ve heard many good things about both, I know slowthai is very popular amongst Idles’ fan base. However, when it comes to punk duo Slaves? They are the band that defined my later teenage years. I first saw them live aged 17 at the Corn Exchange in Cambridge, and that single performance changed my life. I’d already gotten into rock and heavy metal a couple of years prior, but Slaves both got me into punk music and gave me the identity I’d always craved. Punk is not just a genre of music, it is a way of life, a creed and an ethos. I am a massive hardcore Slaves fan and I have followed the band very closely for a long time now. So of course, when I found out that Slaves featured on this single, I instantly stuck the tune on, jumped on my laptop and began writing this very review.
I’ve got to say, I can barely contain the urge to dance round my room to this absolute bop. But you wouldn’t consider it very danceable for the first thirty seconds. The track starts with almost shoegaze-esque guitar work and a rather subdued vocal line from Isaac, but before long a synth swell leads to a very groovy bassline and slowthai precedes to dominate the next section by, as the kids say, spitting absolute bars. Some upbeat clean guitar punkage comes in for the chorus, and this is where I’m properly having to resist jumping up and down with excitement. A verse and bridge section follow, and do a brilliant job of building up to the massive crescendo that is the second chorus, where the background vocals become ever louder and more intense and I’ve just had to take a quick break to jump around my bedroom for thirty seconds, I just can’t help it. Fortunately, the boys have thought of this, and allow the track to quieten down for an outro very much akin to what you hear at the start of this track. If it didn’t, I don’t think I would’ve been able to pull myself away.
I feel as though I’m now a disciple of some cult and am out spreading the good word about this amazing collaboration. It’s so hypnotic, so different. I must have listened to it twenty times now. Momentary Bliss might be my contender for single of the year, but it’s only the end of January, we will see.
Peace, Love and Cowbells,
Oscar