>>92292806I actually got the opposite impression (though I haven't been following this release too much), that Humanz puts the focus back on the band compared to Plastic Beach. Back in PB Damon put together one of the best music ensembles possible (Womack, The Clash, Lou Reed, etc) and blatantly made a show of it (realistic drawn versions of the musicians appearing in the videos, the musicians dressing up for the shows, the whole in-universe explanation of 2D and Murdoc getting locked out of the concert while the "tribute band" plays live instead of pretending that Gorillaz was really playing, etc). Now with Humanz I see a bigger focus on the characters: Year long releases of only art and no music from Hewlett prior to the album announcement, 2D and Murdoc having lots of appearances/giving lots of interviews via 3D uncanny valley, more talking appearances by Russel and Noodle, more "independent" activity from the characters like Noodle regularly updating her instagram and putting together Spotify playlists, etc). Outside the concerts, I'd say the focus is coming back to the virtual band (as opposed to the real musicians). I haven't seen the concerts, so it's possible that Damon still steals the show on those, but on interviews etc he's said they're pushing the weird 3D mocap animations because their plan is to have future concerts played by live 3D holograms (like that Tupac gig from years ago) with the actual musicians hidden, which goes directly against his showmanship in Plastic Beach and goes right back to "the band playing behind a screen to pretend their shadows are the Gorillaz members" form the Phase 1 concerts.
I'm hopeful.
>>92293134To be fair Damon is a very popular musician, and has plenty of successful projects besides Gorillaz (Blur, The Good The Bad And The Queen, his solo stuff). But I agree, half the magic of Gorillaz is the lore and animation aspect. I doubt it would have been nearly as successful as just a Damon Albarn music experiment.
