st221

MUSIC FEATURE

visit jbhifi.com.au/stack

INTERVIEW

Oro, Plata, Mata by Mo'Ju is out Mar 24 via Virgin.

MO'JU MAGIC

The follow-up to 2018's acclaimed NativeTongue sees MO'JU stirring their own lived experiences into funkified alchemy. We spoke about their fourth album, the radiant Oro, Plata, Mata . Words Zoë Radas

T here's s a Filipino architectural superstition which says that you must never build staircases with steps in multiples of three. “You have to count the stairs – ‘oro, plata, mata, oro, plata, mata’ – and you can’t land on mata, because that is death,” says Mo’Ju. “So the idea is that you must start the record again..." The revered Filipino/Wiradjuri musician is explaining how the structure of their brilliant new record – Oro, Plata, Mata , out this month – came to be. The album is filled with vintage funk feel, knife-slashes of strings, the glinting bell-like sounds of the Kulintang (“It’s like a Filipino version of a gamelan – it’s tuned percussion” says Mo’Ju) and some stunning lyrical messages; it’s as much a homage to Mo’Ju’s Uncle Tito, who created an iconic film in the ‘80s which shares its title with the album, as an exploration of wealth’s

glorification, spirituality, political change, existential anxiety, and a passionate dedication to forging a brighter future. The record doesn't follow the film’s storyline, but its triad structure informed the way Mo’Ju ended up assembling the music, in unfolding formations of three. Its final track, the stand-out Swan Song , sits in the Mata chapter. Mo'Ju explains the origin of the song's titular term: "I don’t believe it’s an actual truth, but that’s the story: [swans] just honk, and in their death throes, they sing a song," they say. "So I was like, 'Well, I’m not ready to roll over and die – I still have a bit of honk left in me! I still want to fight, I’m not ready to damn it all.'" Lead single Change Has to Come falls into the second chapter, Plata ; its fabulous soul soaked bassline, jazzy kit beat, and arresting memo grab you by the hips well before the

chorus “Ahhhh”s, which will linger in your brain all day long. They sound a bit like the soaring wails in ‘70s disco classic Like an Eagle . “For me, it was Ennio Morricone!” Mo’Ju grins. “I wanted to do something that felt really ‘filmic’ – there’s a cinema to it.” As for its message, Mo'Ju wants to make it abundantly clear that the record is not a moralising, preachy project: “This album is not didactic,” they say. “It’s not about, ‘Hey! This is what’s wrong with the world, and this is how everybody should be!’ I’m talking about my lived experience. It's a reflection upon my own internal conflict around feeling at once complicit in capitalism, and also a total captive of it..." ZKR

Continue reading the full article online at jbhifi.com.au/stack

FEATURE

remains on the Gorillaz fantasy collab wishlist? We’d sure love a copy of 2-D’s little black book. On their eighth album, these “cartoon G”s ping from pop to Reggaeton, and funk to frantic techno, capable of riling up the chillest toddler. There’s an abundance of hidden

Cracker

Island by Gorillaz is out now via Warner.

GET CRACKING ON OUR GORILLAZ

treasures here for all your ear worshipping needs. Cracker Island is a cracking listen. Narrative update: Gorillaz relocated to the City of Angels fromWest London and started The Last Cult (Murdoc declaring himself The Great Leader). The Forever Cult (who allegedly all wear blue) live next door. 2-D develops an unhealthy obsession for The Forever Cult’s leader: Moon Flower... Bryget Chrisfield

TRACK-BY-TRACK!

B eing part of the Gorillaz stanclub is extremely all-encompassing and richly rewarding (if you don’t own a hard copy of their almanac, best put your hand down), but they’re equally appealing – to all ages and (most) genre preferences – just based on musical merit alone. We mean, this virtual

band’s primary influences – aesthetically – are Hanna Barbera, Looney Tunes, and Mad magazine, so falling down a rabbit hole of their kaleidoscopic content is a guaranteed hoot. Whereas featured vocalists hogged the mic throughout Gorillaz’ preceding Song Machine, Season One: Strange

Timez set, 2-D (voiced by Damon Albarn, but in character he sounds different somehow; more distant and melancholy) plays a more pivotal role on Cracker Island. There’s still an abundance of guest artist goodness, mind: Thundercat, Stevie Nicks, Tame Impala, Bootie Brown, and Beck, ferchrissakes! Seriously, who

Continue reading the full track-by-track online at jbhifi.com.au/stack

MARCH 2023

jbhifi.com.au

6