Comes on limited edition neon pink vinyl LP.
Cracker Island is the eighth studio album by the British virtual band Gorillaz. It was released on 24 February 2023 via Parlophone and Warner Records. It features collaborations with Stevie Nicks, Adeleye Omotayo, Thundercat, Tame Impala, Bad Bunny, Bootie Brown and Beck. More than two decades into their animated existence, Gorillaz remain one of pop’s strangest success stories. The virtual band dreamed up by Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett has always thrived on contradiction—cartoon characters delivering very real cultural commentary, genre-blending pop records that sound like pirate radio transmissions from the future. On Cracker Island, their eighth studio album, Gorillaz lean deeper into sleek synth-pop territory while quietly dissecting the strange cults of celebrity, technology, and modern life.
If earlier Gorillaz records felt like chaotic musical collages, Cracker Island plays more like a neon-lit night drive through Los Angeles. The album trades some of the gritty hip-hop and dub textures of the band’s early years for glossy keyboards, disco rhythms, and atmospheric grooves that feel tailored for late-night city lights. The title track, featuring Thundercat, sets the tone immediately. Built on a slinky bassline and shimmering synths, “Cracker Island” moves with effortless cool. Albarn’s understated vocals float through lyrics about cult mentality and modern disconnection, while Thundercat’s bass playing adds a funky undercurrent that keeps the track grounded.
Much of the album thrives on collaboration, a long-standing Gorillaz tradition. “New Gold,” featuring Tame Impala and Bootie Brown, stands out as one of the record’s most hypnotic moments. The song glides along on psychedelic grooves and dreamy synth layers, sounding like a hazy conversation between alternative rock and hip-hop drifting through a cosmic lounge.
Elsewhere, “Silent Running,” with Adeleye Omotayo, delivers one of the album’s most emotional peaks. The track feels like a distant cousin to the melancholic pop of Albarn’s work with Blur—melodic, introspective, and quietly beautiful. Its chorus expands into something surprisingly hopeful, hinting that beneath the album’s satire lies genuine longing for connection.
The album’s most playful moment arrives with “Tormenta,” featuring reggaeton superstar Bad Bunny, where Latin rhythms swirl into Gorillaz’ electronic universe.
Still, Cracker Island isn’t purely escapist. Albarn frames the album around the concept of a fictional cult—“The Last Cult”—a satirical reflection of modern obsession with fame, internet tribes, and ideological echo chambers. It’s a theme that fits naturally within the Gorillaz mythology, where fiction and reality have always blurred together.
