Gorillaz TV Series in Development
Gorillaz fans have had to wait awhile between albums, but now that the group's Humanz LP is on its way to stores, it looks like new music is only the first of several projects they've got in store over the coming months.
Speaking with Q (via Pitchfork), creative partners Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett opened up about the creative tension that fed into the long lull between Gorillaz projects, admitting they didn't speak for several years before meeting up for drinks in 2015. After rediscovering their creative spark, they set about making up for lost time — Albarn estimated there were more than three dozen songs left over in various states of completion after the Humanz sessions, and upcoming plans include development on a 10-episode TV series, presumably dedicated to the animated exploits of the band members' alter egos.
As Hewlett noted, this isn't the first time someone's tried developing an animated Gorillaz project; the band explored the idea of a full-length film with DreamWorks at one point, but it was ultimately abandoned because, as he put it, "it was too dark to spend a couple of hundred million dollars on." Whether this means the series will be lighter and/or cheaper, only time will tell — but given Albarn's comments regarding the inspiration behind the new LP, audiences probably shouldn't expect sunny family-friendly fare.
"I told everyone to imagine you’re in America after the inauguration," Albarn said of a pre-election meeting between the group's creative principals. "It’s the worst-case scenario. How would you feel that night? Let’s make a party record about the world going f---ing nuts."
As previously reported, the promotional campaign for Humanz includes an innovative partnership with Sonos, whose Playbase soundbar is being used to power immersive audiovisual installations, dubbed Gorillaz Spirit Houses, the first of which is scheduled to open in New York later this month.
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