(NLM) Following last month's triumphant surprise performance of new music and the highly-anticipated release of first track "The Happy Dictator (feat. Sparks)" comes "The Manifesto (feat. Trueno and Proof)," the second track to be released from Gorillaz' forthcoming studio album, The Mountain.
"The Manifesto" carries the album's themes of the cycle of life and the afterlife via the extraordinary talent of Latin Grammy-winning Argentine rap prodigy Trueno who deftly trolls his maker with the declaration "Yo no se que va a pasar ma-ana/Cuando atienda la luz que me llama/Mami mi futuro me reclama/Camino hacia la luz/I have nothing to lose" (I don't know what tomorrow holds/When I heed the light that's calling me/Baby, my future is demanding me/I walk toward the light/I have nothing to lose) - until the song is arrestingly bisected by a posthumous riposte from the late Detroit-born D12 rapper and Gorillaz collaborator Proof who declaims: "You aren't ready for death/Until I showed up, hold breath/Until you blow the on one set," an inspired moment of freestyling, captured minutes before he entered the booth during an early recording session.
The collaborative intent of The Mountain album is further reflected in the celebratory energy of "The Manifesto," which features sarod players Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangash, brothers who are seventh generation musicians of the Gwalior musical lineage; along with the joyous brass of the legendary Jea Band Jaipur who have been "serving Indian weddings since 1936"; as well as Ajay Prasanna on bansuri and The Mountain Choir led by Vijayaa Shanker.
"As space dust we are here forever and that's a mighty long time. This is a musical meditation infused with light. A journey of the soul, with beats..." - Russel Hobbs
The Mountain Tour will kick off in Manchester on March 20th 2026 and visit arenas across the UK and Ireland, with dates in Birmingham, Glasgow (SOLD OUT), Leeds, Cardiff (SOLD OUT), Nottingham, Liverpool, Belfast and Dublin, to include a second show in Manchester and Dublin, recently added due to demand; plus a one-off headline show at London's Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday June 20th 2026 - the band's biggest UK show to date - with support from Sparks and Trueno.
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