Gorillaz have confirmed their return by announcing their new album The Mountain and a 2026 tour.
Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett’s band released new single The Happy Dictator – a collaboration with Sparks – on Thursday (11.09.25) and it will be followed by their ninth studio album The Mountain, which will drop on March 20 along with a UK and Ireland tour, which kicks off on March 21 in Manchester, England.
The album – which was debuted at a “mystery show” in London earlier this month – was recorded in London, Devon and India with Hewlett revealing the project was inspired by the pair’s shared grief over lost family members. He told Rolling Stone: “It was all like: ‘This is f****** weird, there’s a reason why we’re here’.
“Losing our fathers, and losing my mother-in-law, and then being in India as an artist. Visually, if you’re an artist and you go to India and it doesn’t blow your mind, then you must be blind, you know? Everything is insane and rich and colourful and mad and tragic and beautiful.
“Damon worked with a lot of fantastic Indian musicians. We just had the best time, and we were so inspired and excited by the experience.”
Hewlett previously told the publication the album was designed to be listened to from start to finish and urged fans listen to the whole record in order instead of cherry-picking their favourite songs.
He explained: “You’re supposed to listen to it from beginning to end. What we’re asking is, take the time to sit with your earphones and listen for however long the album is, and look at the artwork, and then just lose yourself in this story.
“Don’t cherry pick a song, listen to it all. We’re trying to bring back that idea of taking time to invest in something, instead of this culture of scrolling.”
The album features collaborations with artists including IDLES, Paul Simonon, Johnny Marr and Anoushka Shankar, with Damon admitted he was thrilled to work with her because he loved listening to her father Ravi Shankar’s music when he was growing up.
Damon admitted the collaboration gave him a connection to his father Keith, who died last year.
He told the publication: “I probably listened to Ravi Shankar before I listened to The Beatles when I was a kid … [So] to have Anoushka Shankar on the record is not only a real privilege, but the connection with my dad and his love of Ravi Shankar is great.”
Gorillaz will play at the Pulse of Gaia Festival in Madrid, Spain on September 20 before kicking off The Mountain Tour at the Co-Op Live venue in Manchester, England on March 21.
The tour will feature stops in Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Cardiff, Nottingham, Liverpool, Belfast and Dublin before wrapping in London at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on June 20.
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