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The records he has made since then tend to defer to other voices and players and genres.
And I thought about it for a while:Thats an amazing opportunity.
Thatll do it.Thatll do it.
I would have harmonic destinations for them to reach and little melodic motifs but nothing really heavy.
Id assign them different parts of the landscape.
Other people would be concerned with the wind, the sea, and the birds, even.
Id have golfers as well, directly outside the window, so golf carts.
I feel like youre trying to translate the landscape in Iceland into sound.Yeah.
A bit, yeah.
And it was going really, really well, and then the pandemic hit and everything was closed down.
There was nobody on it, so we just played to an empty ballroom every night on the boat.
Lights really poor that time of year.
So that was quite oppressive.
So there was this real tension.
Where did you spend that time?I spent most of it down there by the sea in Devon.
Things seemed really intense in the U.K. last year.Yeah, I wish Id been in Iceland.
Iceland seems to be handling things better.They have space and theyre very pragmatic, sensible Scandinavians.
So I didnt really do much applying.
It was something that was offered to me.
I was obviously very touched by the offer.
Today at the Icelandic Parliament in Reykjavik with Pall Magnusson, member of the Independence Party.
I still think its a really belligerent act of self-harm
And were starting to see how.
Lets wait and see.
It doesnt look great at the moment, Ill put it that way.
In the news over the last year, we read fresh death tolls every time we woke up.
It was unlike any other time in our lives.
Otherwise it becomes too self-conscious.
But turned out, she was the most amazing woman.
She was a rabbi born in Winnipeg who now lives in Vancouver.
We had this fantastic conversation that started with Trump.
She said, Dont worry about Trump.
Hes just a disrupter.
I wanted to try and find a way to express my awe of witnessing the northern lights.
And its a similar thing.
Particles are obviously what everythings made of and they are in a permanent state of flux and joy.
Theres no such thing as a sad particle.
We have common elements and, at the moment, common enemies.
We could band together and finish off the pandemic.
We could slow climate change.
But a lot of people would rather die than unite.Its the disparity in wealth, really.
That is the main issue.
In America, the top 400 wealthiest people got 44 percent richer and everyone else got poorer.
These people enjoy admiration even though theyre pillaging the place.We got to reinvent the dreams that we peddle.
So it depends what side of the fence youre on.
I watched you on aLater … With Jools Hollandthis month.
You played No Distance Left to Run alone on piano.
At least its just me and a piano traveling then.
Its not some campaign Im onto.
I love playing with other people, and Gorillaz is the perfect testament to that.
Its ridiculous the amount of people sometimes we get on tour with us.
As someone who practices a craft, its nice to be able to do it like that sometimes.
OnLater …,you also spoke about being a fan of Terry Hall of the Specials.
What ska, reggae, and dancehall inspired you?
We can feel it coming through, even on this album.
Its always there in your music.Its a massive thing.
It led me to reggae.
I find the first decade of your career fascinating.
We first learn of you from this music commenting on, Id say, quintessentially British middle-class culture.
It just took longer to manifest itself than the other stuff.
Ive carried all of that since a kid, really.
This year, you played Worthy Farm.
How is a Glastonbury show with no Glastonbury audience?It was amazing.
But apart from that, it was the perfect, bucolic country moment.
And the cost of that, its really tough.
Its something that needs to be addressed.
Pop music is becoming more bland, and we need that art.
There needs to be a balance.
At the moment, it is unbalanced massively in their favor.
Everything is ever so slightly turning into that filmIdiocracy.
[laughs]
Are you working on new music?Im always working on music, yeah.
I think theres definitely something from Gorillaz on the horizon.
I bought myself a whole collection of steelpan and really went for that.
Its a really interesting sound, the low end of a steelpan orchestra.
So I still want to work with that a bit.
We did this tune with Bad Bunny in Jamaica in the summer.
WhatsBad Bunnylike?Hes great, super-talented.
Im looking forward to seeing him inNarcos: Mexico; Im a massiveNarcosfan, obviously.
Something starts to speak to you and then you just have to get in that vehicle and drive.
You know what I mean?
Until you run out of petrol or you run out of electricity.
Noel Gallagher has toldan amusing storyabout running into you at the Man City/Chelsea match this spring.
Do you remember that?Im Chelsea.
It was the Champions League Final in Portugal, and it was just after wed won.
Hed left because they just lost to us.
We accidentally bumped into each other waiting for our Vianos outside the stadium.
I said, Happy birthday, because it was his birthday and gave him a hug.
It was difficult for him, obviously.
What else could I say?
I was the worst person, obviously, for him to bump into at that point.
He was the best person for me to bump into.
Can I read you a tweet?I dont have any social media.
Read me the tweet, yeah.
I think when the styles really work together is when there is that duality about it.
Whatever we get, we try and make work somehow, so its a positive thing.
Last year we lost the greatTony Allen, with whom youve recorded so much.
I was genuinely devastated and shocked beyond belief when he passed.
I couldnt believe it.
The new record is definitely imbued with [his loss], though its not all about that.
I shed many, many, many tears for Tony and it inevitably is there somewhere in the writing.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
