QTheMusic.com

When Damon Albarn announced he was bringing a musical version of the Chinese folk legend Monkey to the stage, it would have been easy to assume it was just a thematic gag to extend his association with side project Gorillaz. Just another stage in a journey of reinvention which has taken him through guitar psych-pop, chart-dominating ‘Britpop’, punk-pop bluster, movie soundtracks, electronica, experiments with Malian musicians and the variety theatre reggae of The Good, The Bad And The Queen.

Although such constant flitting between wildly varied would suggest a touch of the dilettante, past experience has shown that each new avenue for the now 40-year-old musician is accompanied by singular focus and commitment; and the result is almost always brilliantly realised.

The basics of the Monkey stories would have been as well–known to Albarn as they would to any child growing up in the late 1970s, courtesy of the Japanese live action adaptation screened weekly on BBC2 (and more recently show on late night Channel 4). But his chosen medium and an understanding of Chinese culture for this latest project took a little more time to master. To immerse himself, Albarn and his Gorillaz collaborator – and former flatmate – Jamie Hewlett paid five extended visits to China, to gain an insight into a world so vastly removed theirs in the west.

They climbed to mountain-top monasteries, travelled to rural provinces, recorded in the bustle of economic powerhouse Beijing, learned from Chinese composers, and got to grips with the strictures of writing within the traditional pentatonic (five-note) scale. Over many months they worked with director Chen Shi-Zheng to assemble the ambitious spectacle Monkey: Journey To The West, premiered at Manchester International Festival last year and has more recently been staged at London’s Royal Opera House. Now he has interpreted the musical vision of his stage compositions by piecing together an album of 22 tracks.

Those expecting anything as conventional as songs will be sorely disappointed. And what lyrics there are (the album is largely instrumental) are sung in Mandarin. It is not until the fourth track in that there is anything resembling a proper tune. Despite Albarn’s efforts to thread the work together, the very nature of scoring a major work – like the soundtrack to a film where the audio works to enhance the visuals - means it is fragmented, like a series of sketches, whether it be electronica arpeggios, orchestral stabs or elaborate rhythms.

His fine ear for a cultural identifier is in evidence on Dragon King which sounds like tinny messages state messages pumped out from tannoys on Chinese streets. Heavenly Peach Banquet is an early highlight, full of dreamy ‘la-la-la-las’ like an eastern version of Minnie Riperton’s Loving You. I Love Buddha is more familiar territory for Albarn, a pretty gliding carousel waltz with a Bontempi rhythm.
With the most epic piece on the album March Of The Iron Army, Albarn employs a 60-strong choir in a strident, militaristic piece with strings and trombones. Monkey Bee is a curious suite which whisks the listener through Chinese instrumentation, fractured vocal samples, a reggae-lite beat and concludes with a a rock and roll crescendo of electric guitars. But as serious as much of the album is in tone, there are still touches of humour - notably the title Pigsy In Space, a tongue-in-cheek amalgamation of the name of one of Monkey’s sidekick with the Muppet Show’s regular soap opera of the 1970s.

Throughout Albarn sounds confident and capable musically. The difficulty is contextual. It is hard to know how to see it as an album. It is clearly not pop, nor classical nor even that great non-genre World music. And away from the dazzling stage-craft and Hewlett's set designs, it is tough for the album to speak for itself.
Albarn says it is not a soundtrack but even though there are moments of brilliance, the most ardent of his fans would struggle to slip this on from start to finish.

***

4:43 PM | 07/08/2008