Merrie Land (studio album) by The Good, The Bad & The Queen

My personal AOTY. I also think that this has been the best year for Damon ALbarn. I feel like everything that he did with all of his projects this decade were buildups to The Now Now and this album. Everyday Robots was pretty substantive. Filled with political, personal, and emotional themes. However, even though the themes were strong and distinct and the album was consistent, was it really that memorable, unique, or interesting? I don't think so. That album had a very dull aesthetic, and the musical style was clear but it was so BORING and didn't have any replay value. The Magic Whip felt more emotional, memorable, and catchy, but it was still more of an album focused on themes and lyrics rather than creativity. It had a nice aesthetic, but the songs were quite plain at times. Lots of emotional tracks, though, and some of them were absolutely beautiful. Then there was Humanz. Extremely catchy, energetic, lots of replay value, blending of genres, and it felt like the songs had more character and emotion than the other projects. But the themes and lyrics were WEAK. The album wasn't musically coherent. It barely had a direction. It's OK to experiment, but Humanz REALLY had no fully realised elements to it even if it had more standout tracks. Also, the production was really simplistic and it sounded to basic and bare than the eccentric and intricate instrumentals on Plastic Beach. The Now Now. A stronger direction, more intricate instrumentals, strong and direct lyrical themes, some of Damon's most genuine and heartfelt lyrics, a really authentic yet creative and fun project that has tons of replay value. It's such a great blend of what Damon had done in the 2010's. The strongest tracks are easily the last four, being some of Damon's most beautiful, moving, and emotional tracks that summarize his career as a musician and he really reflects on his whole life in such an outstanding way. This album feels like those four tracks brought into the length of a full album. It's so seamlessly incredible and it has Damon ALbarn's most well-written instrumentals ever. This band seem like the best musicians to bring out the best of Damon ALbarn's vocals. The best songs are by far the more emotional/political/personal tracks such as Merrie Land, Lady Boston, Ribbons, and The Poison Tree, which is a BEAUTIFUL track that feels like it's dedicated to everyone that Damon Albarn has lost in his musical career. I know why ALbarn thinks this is some of his best music ever, because it truly is incredible. Lyrically and musically it's a flawless project. It has such distinct themes yet it experiments in different genres. It's like Everyday Robots but this time around it's truly Damon ALbarn doing everything that he does best as a songwriter.

From johnner 11/16/2018 14:46

The release of this album couldn’t be more timely, what with it being preoccupied with all things Brexit, deal or no deal etc etc.
Musically, Albarn still mines the same Brit-pop/Ska hybrid as before, although things sound a bit more queasy, tired and just a little tattered.
Rather than the glorious dawn of a 1950’s Festival Of Britain type proportions as promised by the Brexiteers, this is a sodden soundtrack to the grim reality i.e. economic instability, broken promises, grey leaden skies and pounding, lashing rain.
Nice songs too.