Gorillaz finally get a bloody move on, share ‘Hallelujah Money’

About bloody time! After quite a bit of hinting, faffing about, and pointing towards future material, cartoon bunch Gorillaz have released their first song in a whopping six years.

According to a representative of the band, this is not album news - that will come later. Oooer! This definitely is a vehemently political song, on the other hand, and its timing (right before the presidential inauguration in the USA) is no coincidence. Lyrically it makes various digs at Donald Trump’s infamous ‘Make America Great Again’ campaign slogan, points towards greedy and corrupted high powers, and explores the irony of building walls to protect freedom: “I have thought that the best way to protect our tree is by building walls,” it goes.

Complete with a slightly menacing video - which makes liberal use of the old green-screen to mock up the view from inside Trump Tower - ‘Hallelujah Money’ features fruity-toned saucy warbler and 2015 Mercury Prize winner Benjamin Clementine on vocal duties, and at one point, he even reads a quick little spoken-word story in the middle of the song. Lovely.

The band’s Murdoc had this to say about ‘Hallelujah Money’: “In these dark times, we all need someone to look up to. Me. That’s why I’m giving you this new Gorillaz song, a lightning bolt of truth in a black night. You’re welcome. Now piss on! The new album’s not gonna write itself.”

Charmed!

Have a watch of the video - directed by the band and Giorgio Testi - below.