Gorillaz - The Valley of the Pagans ft. Beck (Episode Eight)
Содержание
"The Valley of the Pagans" is a song by British band Gorillaz, recorded with Beck Hansen. The track was released on 5 November 2020 as the 9th single for their 7th studio album, Gorillaz, Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez. This is the 8th episode of the Song Machine project, a web series that includes the continued release of various Gorillaz tracks featuring various guest musicians throughout 2020.
The backstory...
Gorillaz is a popular animated band from the United Kingdom, formed in 2001, consisting of the fictional members of 2D, Noodle, Murdoch and Russell (all created by the creative duo Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett). For example, the lead vocalist of 90's rock band Blur, Damon Albarn is the music producer and vocalist (a 2D character). Jamie Hewlett, also known as the creator of Tank Girl comics, is the artist behind the visual effects and character design of Gorillaz. Having released seven studio albums, Gorillaz are currently working on their monthly audio-visual project "Song Machine".
Over the past 19 years, Gorillaz have continued to grow with their fans. Unlike other virtual stars like Hatsune Miku, Noodle is no longer the child she was in "19-2000". Another unique trait of Gorillaz is that their music videos tend to follow an overarching storyline - at least they once did. Up until the creation of Music Machine, Gorillaz's journey to where they are now could be followed by watching their videos in chronological order. Now, each episode of Music Machine is a separate adventure contained within a single episode.
Video clip
The video, directed by Jamie Hewlett, Tim McCourt and Max Taylor, begins in the Kong Studios garage, where Noodle and his band are dropping by. Suddenly, a portal opens behind the car and everything falls inside. The portal takes the group to the game "Grand Theft Auto V", where they drive around the virtual world (another one).
At the same time, Beck appears in a smartphone (which is mounted in the style of the GTA V game in the bottom right corner of the screen), while 2-D (another character) is talking to him in the backseat of a car. The video ends with the band entering another portal and ending up in the ocean near Plastic Beach (an image from the band's 3rd studio album).
While the Gorillaz must have visited Los Santos, it's hard to say that their trip to GTA 5 will affect their journey as a whole. At best it seems like this episode was more of a musical advert for Grand Theft Auto 5, as it severely lacked Jamie Hewlett's art. This isn't the first time this year that GTA has meddled in the world of music videos, but the Gorillaz music video had a bigger impact on Los Santos than The Weeknd's "Blinding Lights" video.