Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez is a welcome return to form for Gorillaz.

It’s been two years since the Gorillaz released The Now Now, an album that felt ultimately underwhelming compared to some of their classics. Humanz too, which came before that, was also met with a staunchly mixed reception. Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez is a welcome return to form for Gorillaz. 

There’s something deeply harrowing about the piano part that opens this album, disjointedly building while Robert Smith amplifies the dread it carries. This builds for half a minute before further spooky instrumentation and Albarn’s vocals introduce themselves. Another minute or so and we’re already in banger territory, a constant percussive pulse accompanying Smith and Albarn as they alternate, building on the “spinning around” refrain and repeating the “strange times” line with which the album shares its name. From here the track builds further layers of instrumentation on top of one another before fizzling out and slipping into Beck’s feature track, ‘The Valley of the Pagans’

This next one definitely draws on Guero-era Beck. There’s silliness to this track that’s felt void on the past few Gorillaz albums and it’s really welcome here. More of those classically Gorillaz droning vocals run throughout the track while Beck interjects with “I feel so good to be in total control” and the like. It’s good, building at the minute and a half mark anxiously with quality and leading up to a crunchy singalong rhythm that, two minutes deep, insists that you boogie along. The funky quality of this album, that constant groove of some tracks’ closing moments, is so good. What follows in the slick bass tones and 70s-sounding synths and harmonies of ‘The Lost Chord’ recall the likes of Daft Punk’s album ‘Random Access Memories’, both in quality and style. This is a slower track than the last, granting some breathing room without grinding the album to a halt. Leee John’s ethereal vocal contributions heighten the atmosphere of the track as it builds, tapping along with little flashes of synth in the background as the vocals “go harder”. Despite everything going on in this track, the song does not feel overwhelmed or crowded and instead feels straightforward, economical, and lovely. 

As a single, ‘Pac-Man’ didn’t really stand out to me; it’s only with the context of the three previous track that this song holds a special place. Hooking you in with a popping instrumental undercut with palpable bass and easygoing vocals, this track makes sense as one to unveil as a single but, as said, it’s only strengthened in more context. The bridge midway through hauntingly zones out until snapping right back into the quality that this album thrives on. The verse with ScHoolboy Q comes in so hard and really makes the track in its closing half. 

But even the best albums often have some fluff. Sadly, ‘Chalk Tablet Tower’ is one of those songs. In the context of this record, it doesn’t really sit well. Even with the excellent St Vincent on the track, the incessant ‘oh oh ohs’ completely drag the song down and dampen an otherwise high-quality track with elements akin to those of early 2010s pop-rock acts. Though I’ve praised the expert balancing act of other tracks, keeping things crowded but clear, this is one track where the audio seems more messy than clean. But it’s more than made up for in its successors. 

If you look at Gorillaz’ previous releases and thought about potential collaborations, were you ever thinking that Elton John would make a feature? ‘The Pink Phantom’ is one of the more epic tracks on the album. The skeletal piano parts at the start pave way for Albarn’s iconic vocals only to be outshone by 6LACK’s autotuned crooned vocals and the ever-iconic Elton John. Although Elton John’s voice is almost at parody level at this point, there’s something really powerful about his delivery and the musical arrangement on this track is one of the more subtle and beautiful with its gorgeous piano and synth melodies. I really love the simple vocal harmonies at the end that fade out this song and lead us gently into the next. 

The next track isn’t exactly gentle, though. ‘Aries’ is another that on first listen didn’t really blow me away but after hearing it in the context of the full album this track is definitely one of the stronger songs. Peter Hook of Joy Division and New Order fame lends his guitar to this track to give it this exquisite nostalgic quality and it pays off perfectly, reeking of the classic and the new.

It’s after this track the album takes a turn for the boring. There’s always been an art of experimentation and feeding off the current music zeitgeist that’s fuelled past Gorillaz music but some of the tracks here just feel underwhelming or half-baked, more an attempt at something that others are trying than a truly strong concept worthy of pursuit sometimes. ‘Dead Butterflies’ is a good example of this with its very basic melody and slow repetitive drumbeats and piano parts. At least the prior tracks went hard enough to compensate for this digression of quality.

With Octavian and Slowthai on this album, I can’t help but questions some of Albarn’s choices. Both of these artists don’t deserve a platform, whether from Slowthai’s consistent (and now boring) belligerence or Octavian’s recent allegations. Fortunately, both of these tracks are some of the weakest on the record, with Friday 13th notably more boring than every track beforehand. There’s something for everyone, at least, with Slaves showing up loud and proud on slowthai’s track, even if ‘Momentary Bliss’ is more boring than fun.

Back in my good graces, ‘Desole’ was the first single from this project that really resonated with me. Something about the slow groove that builds up the song really grabs you. Fatoumata Diawara is excellent on the choruses on this track. Her explosive delivery lends well to the cool breezy instrumentation and isolating imagery. At this stage, redemption by quality really brings the tracklist back from the dead.

‘Opium’ the longest track on the record, one of the more experimental. The track has some really strong moments towards its end in terms of the instrumentation but it’s the slow build-up that only chugs the album out into a bloated shame at some points throughout. Befitting the name, ‘Simplicity’ is another song that simply feels unnecessary. Perhaps because its mix and instrumentation feel so hollow, leaving a real emptiness to the tune on this track. It’s okay enough but after such a powerful start that’s not enough. While ‘Severed Head’ isn’t groundbreaking, it’s got more of that building, droning instrumentation that made the introductory tracks work as well as they did. It is enough, definitely, even if not a standout moment. The Unknown Mortal Orchestra appearance gives a welcome variation in the vocals that brings the track more up than down, even with a scrappy moment around about the two-thirds mark.

‘With Love To An Ex’ is also enough. Easily one of the best tracks on the record. Moonchild Sanelly brings a charm unlike that of other tracks. And there’s something simple about this track but it’s that simplicity that enhances it. The synth tones are more basic than complex and the dark bass pulsates underneath to give this track a catchy quirkiness that some tracks strive for but aren’t achieving. 

‘MLS’ is another song where simplicity and quirkiness enrich it. This track features CHAI and JPEGMAFIA in a surprising collaboration that comes out as one of the best tracks of the album, and definitely the cutest. The production on this track is fun as well; you’ve just got to love the distorted guitar tones towards the end. ‘How Far?’ is another more unique track. And it’s still good, coming in as an apt last song on the album and features Tony Allen and Skepta. Its moments of buildup create this sense of anticipation and dread with a lyrical intensity offered by Skepta and Tony Allen that makes the track more engaging the longer it plays.

This album is seventeen tracks long and feels it. But it’s surprisingly a lot more digestible than some of Albarn’s previous releases. The strong moments on this album are some of the strongest musical moments from 2020 outright. But the album lets itself down with too many tracks falling short of the songwriting magnitude that’s seen on the likes of ‘Désolé’ (feat. Fatoumata Diawara) and ‘The Pink Phantom’ (feat. Elton John and 6LACK). For an album literally called ‘Song Machine’, and very much about the individual songs, it’s surprising how cohesive this project is. We can owe this to Albarn’s creative vision, no doubt, with that classic Gorillaz production making the whole thing work. Despite that cohesion, the tracks can often feel underwhelming on their own, especially when comparing the weaker tracks to the stronger tracks on the record. But even with a fifty-fifty split of weak and strong, this album would have had quality enough to compensate. Fortunately, it’s closer to seventy five-twenty five, and the album’s well deserving of praise, even if it’s not unquestionably perfect.