The bad news? This week sees a misogynist, climate-denying authoritarian sworn in as the next president of the United States. The good news? Gorillaz have marked the historic event with a new track – their first in six years. Swings and roundabouts.
Hallelujah Money is, as the title might give away, a song about the worship of $$$ and the corrosive influence of big business on politics. Starring 2015 Mercury prize winner Benjamin Clementine in full quavering voice mode, it features lyrics about building walls and the all-consuming desire for power. “Thank you my friend / For trusting me,” Clementine warns, ominously.
The whole thing is suitably unsettling throughout – a slice of futurist gospel which sees Clementine channelling his deepest Nina Simone, before Damon Albarn’s voice floats by, as melancholic as ever, to ask: “How will we know / When the morning comes / We are still humans / How will we know?”
Does it get any cheerier? Not really. “Don’t worry my friend / If this be the end, then so shall it be,” says Clementine towards the end. Really makes you feel better about everything doesn’t it?
