By Prufesuroak (Kevin)
It seems as though we think that we have seen everything that Damon Albarn can do, but this will erases all that preconception. This is unlike the “Blur” stuff, the “Gorillaz” stuff and his “The Good, the Bad and the Queen” stuff. This takes parts of all of those periods of his career and then some, then fusing them into one album.
The title track from the album “Everyday Robots” talks about technologies involvement in our everyday lives, which is also the theme for the album (for the most part). The first lyric “we are everyday robots on our phones” basically captures our reliance on our phones with simple tasks like getting home.
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“Lonely Press Play” sounds like a good ol’ Blur song, mixed with some Radiohead. Beginning with a pulsating beat that repeats throughout, adding a slightly out of tune/out of sync piano track and a vocal that is undeniably Albarn. The song is reminiscent of “Out of Time” from “Think Tank” or “This is a Low” from “Parklife”.
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“Mr. Tembo”, a track which seems somewhat detached from the rest of the album. It’s a happy poppy ukulele driven song about an orphaned elephant whom he met in Tanzania. The song is very reminiscent of “Upside Down” by Jack Johnson. Though Damon Albarn writes and sings his song about an animal much more personal, partly because of his natural voice and the inclusion of a choir. The song was played to the elephant once it was written.
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“The Selfish Giant” starts with a pulsating bass line and is later joined by a jazz inspired piano riff we hear throughout the song. “The Selfish Giant” is a collaboration with Natasha Khan, better known as Bat for Lashes, Khan sings the backing vocals for the track. The song sluggishly goes along chilling as one could. The song has one of the more melancholic of any Albarn written song ever, with the lyric “I had a dream, you were leaving” repeating throughout.
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“Heavy Seas of Love”, a collaboration with Brian Eno has one of the most enticing beginnings in any song I’ve heard. The melody sounds that of an old “The Monkees” song I can’t recall. The song somehow sounds depressing and uplifting all at once, how exactly? I don’t know but somehow Albarn has found a way wherein minor chords sound uplifting. The same way that “Lonely Press Play” kind of does.
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In the end what Damon Albarn has done is unsurprisingly made another good album. A good culmination of the musical styles he has adopted through the years. Though timid and mild if you think about what Damon Albarn has been in. It’s not just a mixture of Blur, the Gorillaz and everything else Albarn has done. But what it is rather, is something new.
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