Dead phone batteries during music discovery sessions are tragic, but Gorillaz just solved a bigger problem: creative suffocation under major label constraints. Their ninth studio album The Mountain arrives March 20, 2026, marking the virtual band’s first release on their own KONG label after two decades of corporate partnerships.
This isn’t just another album drop—it’s a bold statement of artistic independence that follows the path blazed by artists like Chance the Rapper and Frank Ocean. Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett have essentially pulled a creative coup, but with animated avatars and a recording process that spans eight countries.
Global Sessions, Local Souls
The Mountain’s creation reads like a digital nomad’s fever dream. Sessions bounced between:
- Studio 13 in London
- Various Indian cities including Mumbai
- Los Angeles
- Ashgabat
- Damascus
- Miami
- New York
The result? An album performed in five languages—Arabic, English, Hindi, Spanish, and Yoruba—that genuinely reflects global music culture rather than appropriating it. Albarn describes the project as “part beautiful, part deadly, part futuristic,” which perfectly captures the ambitious scope.
The band’s fictional narrative has them abandoning “international pop stardom” after traveling to India on fake passports, seeking inspiration in “the mountainous terrain of this thing called life.” It sounds pretentious until you hear how they’ve executed it.
Star Power Meets Posthumous Magic
The guest list reads like a music lover’s fantasy draft. Black Thought, Yasiin Bey, Johnny Marr, and Anoushka Shankar bring contemporary fire, while posthumous contributions from Dennis Hopper, Tony Allen, Bobby Womack, and Mark E. Smith add haunting gravitas.
Lead single “The Happy Dictator” features Sparks, complete with WWII-era visuals and Devanagari-transliterated lyrics that showcase the album’s visual depth. Physical collectors get rewarded with a book and 12×12 prints collection, proving Gorillaz understand their audience still values tangible art.
Stadium-Sized Victory Lap
The Mountain Tour launches March 21 at Manchester’s Co-op Live, weaving through Birmingham, Glasgow, Cardiff, and other major cities before the June 20 finale at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Trueno provides support throughout, with Sparks joining the London celebration.
This independence gambit could redefine how established acts approach creative control. When virtual band pioneers start rejecting traditional industry structures, every artist with leverage should pay attention. Your March 2026 calendar just got more interesting.
