Gorillaz are continuing to tickle our bananas with mysterious online content in the lead up to what’s hotly tipped to be their brand new album.
After posting a series of career flashbacks online last month, Jamie Hewlett and Damon Albarn‘s cartoon rock crew have once again let fly with a barrage of social media updates, this time in the form of an epic manga comic series dubbed The Book Of Noodle, which chronicles the adventures of the band’s fictional guitarist following the events of the 2010 album Plastic Beach.
She drifted away from Plastic Beach to safety, or so she thought. Years later Noodle is face to face with pure evil… #TheBookofNoodle pic.twitter.com/xrGD3H0fgf
— gorillaz (@gorillaz) October 3, 2016
“Days after the attack on Plastic Beach, Noodle awoke in a strange Japanese village that smelled of fish,” the tale unfolds.
Then, after an old pearl diver nurses her back to health, the axe gal takes up an apprenticeship (she’s apparently a natural on account of being really good at holding her breath after “having shared a tour bus with Murdoc” lol).
But then, one day — *plot twist* — shit hits the fan.
“Deep beneath the waves, Noodle prized open a pearl shell of unearthly size, accidentally releasing an ancient hell demon. Noodle learned that this was Mazuu, a shape-shifting devil of unimaginable evil.”
But Noodle, being the badass she is, sets off on a mission to destroy the oceanic hellspawn, but it isn’t going to be easy: “Finding a shape-shifter is like looking for a beard at an Arcade Fire concert,” the text notes (double lol).
But alls well that ends well. Noodle manages to track down the aquatic bastard and chops his head right off, before escaping his demonic bodyguards by FedEx’ing herself to her bandmate, Murdoc.
“Noodle packed herself into a FedEx crate with dried fish, bottled water and a copy of Moby Dick – if she was ever to finish Melville’s onerous classic, it was now,” the text reads.
We can only assume that the whole thing is some kind of fictional prologue, setting the scene for the band’s new album, which Hewlett promises is due out in 2017.
The as-yet-untitled LP will mark Gorillaz’s fifth full-length release, and so far all we know is that it’s packing musical cameos from Feel Good Inc. collaborators De La Soul and Snoop Dogg, plus French composer Jean Michel-Jarre, producer Twilite Tone, singer-songwriter Liam Bailey, and Chicago rapper Vic Mensa.
There’s also strong evidence that the band are planning to tour off the new LP.
While we wait for more updates, entertain yourself by perusing with The Book Of Noodle below.
#TheBookofNoodle pic.twitter.com/PWqdMBP16c
— gorillaz (@gorillaz) October 3, 2016
Days after the attack… #TheBookofNoodle pic.twitter.com/3gHD7ucqIS
— gorillaz (@gorillaz) October 3, 2016
#TheBookofNoodle pic.twitter.com/LMKzalUSdq
— gorillaz (@gorillaz) October 3, 2016
Noodle learned that… #TheBookofNoodle pic.twitter.com/PPAlD63Hap
— gorillaz (@gorillaz) October 3, 2016
#TheBookofNoodle pic.twitter.com/ICYGXPoYaS
— gorillaz (@gorillaz) October 3, 2016
Disguising herself as… #TheBookofNoodle pic.twitter.com/Hy1s5NgVYb
— gorillaz (@gorillaz) October 3, 2016
#TheBookofNoodle pic.twitter.com/FrqTfhkizz
— gorillaz (@gorillaz) October 3, 2016
Mazuu! #TheBookofNoodle pic.twitter.com/95hrPPfmGP
— gorillaz (@gorillaz) October 3, 2016
Escaping Mazuu's sumo bodyguards… #TheBookofNoodle pic.twitter.com/0ohSYUeneX
— gorillaz (@gorillaz) October 3, 2016
#TheBookofNoodle pic.twitter.com/qDKYWvtGPs
— gorillaz (@gorillaz) October 3, 2016
#TheBookofNoodle pic.twitter.com/emX9LdGsKz
— gorillaz (@gorillaz) October 3, 2016