Cracker Island marks something of a retreat for Gorillaz, moving the virtual group away from the excess of The Song Machine, a multi-part series of collaborations that sometimes threatened to collapse upon its own weight. Guests are still featured on Cracker Island -- collaboration is one of the chief reasons Damon Albarn launched the group at the dawn of the millennium -- but he sticks with Greg Kurstin and Remi Kabaka, Jr. as his main collaborators, giving the record an appealingly streamlined feel. Another element lending the album a sleek, unified vibe is how the guests are effectively used as extra texture. Bad Bunny may dominate the vibrant "Tormenta," but he's the exception to the rule: Stevie Nicks gives "Oil" a hint of harmony, and Tame Impala sets "New Gold" adrift in a neo-psychedelic haze, while Beck fades into the background of "Possession Island." All this means is that Damon Albarn is at the center of Cracker Island, a shift that underscores how the record is less an exploration of new sonic territory as it is a reaffirmation of his strengths. Balancing bright, colorful electro-pop with a slight air of melancholy is hardly a new trick for Albarn, yet there's a clean, efficient energy propelling Cracker Island that gives the album a fresh pulse. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
