Song Analysis: Gorillaz – Stylo
One must wonder how big Damon Albarn’s contacts list is, and also how varied. Consider the list of guest stars for the upcoming highly-anticipated (at least on this blog anyway) third Gorillaz album, Plastic Beach: Snoop Dogg, the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, Kano, Bashy, The National Orchestra For Arabic Music, Gruff Rhys, De La Soul, Little Dragon, Mark E. Smith, Lou Reed, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon, and sinfonia ViVA. There are probably only a few people in music who could boast a list of guest stars that impressive. The first single from the album, Stylo, doesn’t feature any of those artists, but it does feature Bobby Womack and Mos Def.
If you wanted me to be blunt, I could say that this is like a 70s version DARE, such is its catchiness and general disco-style groove (plus Albarn’s repeated mantra of ‘Overload, overload, overload/Comin’ up to the’). The song gives all three featured vocal stars room to breathe, with Womack leaving the most memorable mark. His powerful vocal delivery suits the general tone of the song. Mos Def’s rap at the end is, whilst satisfactory, not really as memorable. It’s a shame because his talents are immense, although he apparently has another track on the album to work his magic on. In short though, this is a solid return for Albarn’s animated superstars.
Listen to the song for yourself here.
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Posted on February 2nd, 2010 by Max
Filed under: Song Analysis, Tracks
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