Damon Albarn called into Apple Music’s ALT CTRL for a chat about his latest song for Gorillaz, “Momentary Bliss.” The track features instrumentation from the punk band Slaves and a verse from leftfield U.K. rapper Slowthai, and was released as part of Gorillaz’s Slow Machine video series. The series features a different track with new guest artists per episode.
“[Slowthai] is a kindred spirit,” Albarn said. “You need to work with kindred spirits, people who are really in the same pocket as you are, about worldview and emotion. That’s something where you have to kind of go on instinct, because you can listen to people’s music and be an admirer from afar, but until you’re actually in the room with each other, you really know whether there’s gonna be any kind of connection.”
Albarn revealed that he has so far taped six episodes of Slow Machine; on Instagram, he’s hinted at collaborations with Schoolboy Q, Sampa the Great and Tame Impala.
Albarn also addressed the recent political tides in Britain – Brexit was finalized over the weekend – and how Gorillaz has been combating political conservatism with its music. “We’ve been raging against [Brexit] for three years, and in the end, it was such an emphatic vote to leave that there’s an element of betrayal and disappointment and sadness,” he said. “But we all just have to move on from it.”
