Featuring vocals from Benjamin Clementine, this futurist gospel track warns of the corrosive influence of big business on politics. Who could they be talking about?
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?
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