It's extraordinary, then, that this follow-up should not just surpass its predecessor, but should do so with such a carefree sense of fun and such fertile musical invention. Some tracks, like "O Green World", are marked by daring, Morricone-esque stylistic shifts, switching from lumbering tecįive years and six million album sales on, the stakes have been raised alarmingly for Damon Albarn's Gorillaz side-project. A blend of funky wah-wah clavinet and waspish synth gives tracks like "Dirty Harry", "All Alone" and "Every Planet We Reach Is Dead" the cast of a more humanist Daft Punk "Kids With Guns" and "El Manana" have a sort of sour indie resignation and the massed choral vocals lend a mock-heroism to "Don't Get Lost In Heaven".
It's very Beck-like in the way it yokes together a postmodern pop playfulness and cool gravitas, moving smoothly from the introductory noir-scape of bassoon, samples and pump organ through a series of musical strategies that cleverly avoid settling into any generic formula. Five years and six million album sales on, the stakes have been raised alarmingly for Damon Albarn's Gorillaz side-project.