The British alternative rock and hip-hop band Gorillaz dropped their new single “Momentary Bliss” on Jan. 30. The band also released the first of multiple episodes of their video series “Song Machine.” These episodes will feature studio footage, interviews with the band’s singers, and conversations with the cartoon members 2-D, Murdoc, Noodle and Russel about upcoming songs.

Gorillaz is a very unique band due to the members consisting of fictional, animated characters. Other music groups such as “The Archies” and “Hatsune Miku” are also considered to be “animated bands” with large cult-followings. The real people behind Gorillaz is lead singer Damon Albarn and animator Jamie Hewlett.

“Momentary Bliss” features guest artists slowthai and Slaves. This song’s unique mix of rap and hip-hop beats with reggae-rock continues Gorillaz’s tendency to not stick with just one genre of music.

“Song Machine” appears to be a reversal of what Albarn and Hewlett did in December 2019, with the release of their movie “Reject False Icons.” This film followed Albarn, Hewlett, and the 100-plus guest artists that toured with Gorillaz for their 2018 tour “The Now Now.” This movie took place after their tour and reflected back on it, while “Song Machine” appears to be teasing upcoming material.

“Song Machine is a whole new way of doing what we do,” said Gorillaz’ drummer Russel. “Gorillaz breaking the mould ’cos the mould got old. World is moving faster than a supercharged particle, so we’ve gotta stay ready to drop.”

Based on the sudden release “Momentary Bliss” and “Song Machine,” new songs will most likely follow suit and “drop” unexpectedly, as Russel said.

Gorillaz debuted in 1998 with their same-titled album. Some of their very first songs, such as “Clint Eastwood” and “Tomorrow Comes Today,” became instant classics and are still popular today.

After a seven-year hiatus from their 2010 albums “Plastic Beach” and “The Fall,” Gorillaz earned their spot back in the limelight with their consecutive albums “Humanz” (2017) and “The Now Now” (2018). 

It appears that “Song Machine” will be their 2020 album, with songs periodically releasing one at a time throughout the year.