Gorillaz feat. Mos Def and Bobby Womack - Stylo

has always been a changeable project; over the course of two albums we’ve had smatterings of hip-hop, punk, dance, hell, even samba was thrown in there for good measure. So it should come as no surprise that ‘Stylo’, lead single from the forthcoming ‘Plastic Beach’ is something altogether different again. Powered by sleepy, dubby disco synths, the track lopes along at its own pace, refusing instant gratification.

Another key component of any Gorillaz track is usually the collaborations, and ‘Stylo’ delivers on this front too. In fact, more than any other, this track’s artists seem to have been chosen because individually they would never be able to work together. Mos Def’s distant, laid-back flow leads into Damon Albarn’s laconic tones before soul legend Bobby Womack bursts in with what sounds like almost a caricature of effervescent vocals. It lends the whole affair a surreal vibe- smooth instrumentation and incredibly loud vocals pushed together - and yet somehow it all just works.

‘Stylo’ is a musical oddity, it just shouldn’t be a good song, but this is an experiment gone very, very right, and proves once more that when Damon Albarn wants to try something out, it will invariably work, and bloody well at that.