Summiteers: Gorillaz, India and the journey to Parvat

On February 27, Gorillaz release their ninth studio album, The Mountain (Parvat), marking the band’s 25th anniversary. And India needs no reminder; as it sits right at the centre of the story and the sound.

In the album’s plot, 2-D, Murdoc, Noodle and Russel forge passports and land in Mumbai to get away from celebrity life. This trigger is personal. As Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett travelled to India after their father’s demise. Albarn spoke about swimming in the Ganges and immersing his father’s ashes there. The record follows this theme of loss, recovery, and starting again. 

The 15 tracks were shaped across Mumbai, Rajasthan and Varanasi, with field recordings and local sessions built into the arrangements. You hear it in “The Happy Dictator” where chant-like loops, drum resonance and circular flute figures power the song. The lyrics move between English, Hindi and several other languages, shifting cadence from track to track.

The guest list is wide, and the credits are clear about who’s steering key moments. “The Happy Dictator” features Sparks. IDLES, Kara Jackson, Yasiin Bey, Black Thought, Johnny Marr, Omar Souleyman and Trueno appear across the record. The India-linked sessions are anchored by Asha Bhosle, Anoushka Shankar and Ajay Prasanna, with sarod players Amaan and Ayaan Ali Bangash also featured. There are posthumous contributions too, including Bobby Womack, Tony Allen and Dennis Hopper. 

Western pop has come to India before, from the Beatles’ Rishikesh trip in 1968 to the later big budget ‘Hymn for the Weekend’ video by Coldplay in Mumbai. Often, India was a location or a mere visual gimmick. What makes The Mountain different is it treats India as a lived context: languages, recording choices and arrangements keep pointing back to authenticity rather than cultural appropriation.

Released via the band’s Kong Studios label alongside the House of Kong anniversary exhibition, the album is already being framed as a return to the scale of Demon Days or Plastic Beach. For Indian listeners, the test is direct: if India is the foundation, do the songs carry the weight of that choice?