Gorillaz - 'The Fall' (Parlophone) Released: 18/04/11

Another classic Damon Albarn album would have been too much to expect after the sublime genre-hopping standard ‘Plastic Beach’ set. To have it given away for free download on Christmas day would have been something else.

No wonder ‘The Fall’ never managed to live up to the lofty expectations attached to it in a barren December for music news not pertaining to the X Factor. Now that expectations have evened out and Matt Cardle avoided destroying popular music as we know it, ‘The Fall’ can be afforded some much needed perspective. Now, we can confidently assert it is still a bit underwhelming.

Written on an iPad whilst travelling across the highways of North America, this is a relaxed record that breaks surprisingly little fresh ground in the multi-faceted Gorillaz back catalogue. If a headline set at Glastonbury last year showed up this cartoon collective’s aversion to a straight-up chorus, then time in the confines of a tour bus hasn’t changed that staunch opinion.

Excluding the does-what-it-says-on-the-tin outburst of ‘Seattle Yodel’, ‘The Fall’ operates in the same accomplished crevasse of electronic melancholy that Gorillaz have made their own since ‘Demon Days’. Bobby Womack lends his booming croon to ‘Bobby in Phoenix’, inane pre-gig conversation occupies the opening of ‘The Joplin Spider’ and ‘Amarillo’ even strides towards blessed out club-friendly turf but nothing on ‘The Fall’ could be described as any kind of departure.

In fact, what distinguishes the fourth Albarn/Hewitt collaboration is its staunch dedication to such safe musical hubris. Set free from the unwieldy set of expectations that come with a stellar cast of guest stars, ‘The Fall’ could have been Albarn’s undiluted first-person perspective of what a Gorillaz album should be.

Instead ‘The Speak It Mountains’ and ‘Detroit’ respectively settle in the safe confines of intangible vocal loops and soothing synth ambiance, their distance from the listener almost mirroring that of the touring crew from good old Blighty. This strikes an awkward juxtaposition when viewed in comparison with the innovative methods of creation and distribution that posed ‘The Fall’ as such an exciting prospect way back in December.

It is hardly shocking that Albarn constricted himself to the homely parameters of an iPad when a vast expanse of US highway stood before him. It is more than disappointing that he went foetal when writing a record about the journey.