Song Machine: Aries

“Aries” premiered on April 9, 2020 and was the third episode of the Gorillaz Song Machine. After the very impressive, first two releases on this project, I was very excited to see what Damon Albarn had in store for us this time.

This song features Peter Hook, an English singer, songwriter. Hook is known for his bass performances and his involvement in English rock bands, Joy Davison and New Order.

In addition to Hook, “Aries” features musical artist Georgia, an English record producer and singer, songwriter.

This song, true to Gorillaz form, is quite different than the last two installments of the Song Machine. “Aries” has a new wave and synth pop kind of feel to it. It takes the sound of Hooks band, New Order, and blends it very well into the Gorillaz style.

“Aries” is another relaxed and mellow song with some amazing production value. I think this is something we can continue to expect from this Song Machine project. Albarn has really honed his skills in the studio over the years and knows how to create and blend his style with other artists.

Albarn comes in strong on this track with 2-D’s vocal performance. It starts with the typical Gorillaz style of low and mellow vocals, but quickly picks up with a punchy energetic chorus. 2-D’s voice and performance blends very nicely with the style and genre they are trying to pull off here.

I believe that the Gorillaz are three for three with great songs song far on this project and like I keep saying, and will continue to say, I an excited to see where this goes.

Now again, diving into the lore and art here, we see a few new things happening in the background. First off, they are back at Kong Studios, and for the most part, they are just driving around.

Murdoc and 2-D are together for most of the video, and to anyone who is familiar with some of the Gorillaz story will know that this can only be a bad thing.

We are then given Russel and Noodles whereabouts in the video. Russel is driving his golf cart and Noodle is texting him. We get to see that she says, “Where are you? I’m worried about 2-D!!.”

The rest of the video is a car chase to get 2-D away from Murdoc. Unfortunately, the gang was too late and Murdoc is able to enact his grand plan.

This is where things get weird. What’s his grand plan you ask? Well I don’t really know, all we do know is that Murdoc sticks 2-D with a needle but we don’t get to see what's inside.

Then the video ends, but if you stick around for a bit, there is actually a little message from a masked 2-D asking you to stay safe, stay inside, and wash your hands. It’s always nice seeing creators use their platforms to spread good messages.

If you want to check out this installment of Song Machine, as always, here is a link to the video: