Gorillaz’s singles are getting out of hand. With 41 days left until the release of ‘The Mountain’, Damon Albarn’s group has already published 5 previews. ‘The Hardest Thing’ and ‘Orange County’, however, are actually better presented as a single piece. One of the most beautiful and exciting of the Gorillaz discography. Plus, you can dance.
‘The Hardest Thing’ and ‘Orange County’, as well as Songs of the Day, are inseparable because they both reflect the key theme of ‘The Mountain’: loss. That is why the presence of Tony Allen, who died in 2020, in the first of these is no coincidence. “Oya, e dide erori,” he repeats in Yoruba, which would translate as “Wake up, dear.”
Between elevated orchestral arrangements, full of oriental motifs and focused on the main melody of ‘Orange County’, Albarn introduces the most repeated phrase in the song. Surely, the one that can define the next Gorillaz album: “The hardest thing there is is to say goodbye to someone you love.” As simple as it is forceful.
During the two trips to India that inspired ‘The Mountain’, both Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett lost their parents. The Blur leader was fascinated by the positivity with which death is treated in Hindu culture and, for this reason, ‘Orange County’ is designed to cry while dancing.
Kara Jackson and Albarn exchange verses about having the opportunity to “grow old” or “love again,” while Bizarrap brings a party touch to the production, even though his touch is almost unrecognizable. There is nothing similar to reggaeton or trap here, but the trumpets do directly evoke Mexican corridos.
In the context of Gorillaz’s long discography, ‘Orange County’ conveys the same nostalgic feeling as ‘On Melancholy Hill’. It is a happy melody transformed into a bittersweet emotion. Jackson wondered in his 2023 debut why the Earth gives us people to love. To miss them, Albarn would say.
