Everyday Robots (Special Edition)

Damon Albarn’s discography is as wide-ranging as any figure in contemporary rock. Everyday Robots brings together elements from his singular musical journey. This solo album boasts the haunting, dub-oriented elements of The Good, the Bad and the Queen, Gorillaz’ dazed electronic ambience, and the percussive textures of 2005’s collaborative Mali Music. The result is a stunning collection of deeply emotional experimental rock that only a musician of his range could have created. “We are everyday robots on our phones,” he laments on the opening title track, introducing the album’s theme of isolation in the digital age. But the album that follows is anything but robotic: when Natasha Khan (Bat for Lashes) provides a spectral echo on “Selfish Giant,” a mournful horn solo punctuates “Hollow Ponds,” or the gospel choir sings back-up on the radiant Afropop-influenced “Mr. Tembo,” the result is deeply affecting.