The Mountain (also stylized in Devanagari as पर्वत, parvat, 'mountain' in Hindi) is the ninth studio album by English virtual band Gorillaz. Originally set for release on 20 March 2026, it was pushed forward to release on 27 February 2026 via the band's own label, Kong, and will be distributed by The Orchard, a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment.
Produced by Damon Albarn, Remi Kabaka Jr., James Ford and Samuel Egglenton, the album includes collaborations with Anoushka Shankar, Jalen Ngonda, Black Thought, IDLES, Johnny Marr, Trueno, Omar Souleyman, Yasiin Bey, Asha Bhosle, Paul Simonon, as well as posthumous appearances by Dennis Hopper, David Jolicoeur of De La Soul, Tony Allen, Proof and Mark E. Smith. The album will feature performances in six languages: English, Hindi, Arabic, Spanish, Yoruba and Russian.
In an interview ahead of their 2023 Coachella performance, Damon Albarn revealed that the new Gorillaz album would take them somewhere they had never been before. In another interview with the Broken Record podcast in July 2023, Damon stated that new Gorillaz will be a 'paradigm shift' and 'very different'. In a December 2023 interview with Les Inrockuptibles, Damon stated that, once he has finished working on his opera The Magic Flute II: La Malédiction, he and Jamie are going to India to begin work on a new album. From May to July 2024, Damon and Jamie were spotted in New Delhi.
In March 2025, Damon told Les Inrockuptibles that he was finishing the new Gorillaz album. In a later interview with French radio station Nova, he said that the album would be finished in six weeks' time. Jamie Hewlett later confirmed this in a chat with EverythingGorillaz.
Prior to their trip to India, Albarn and Hewlett had both experienced the loss of close family members. They both described the album as a cohesive, conceptual work that explores ideas of death and the afterlife through the band's fictional characters. Hewlett said that listeners should "listen to the album from beginning to end", adding that they were "trying to bring back that idea of taking time to invest in something, instead of this culture of scrolling".
Release
On 21 May, Gorillaz announced the House of Kong exhibition to celebrate their 25th anniversary. They also announced four live shows to close the exhibition: the first three saw the band perform their first three albums in full, while the fourth was billed as a "mystery" show. Talking about the upcoming album, Damon stated that it will be in four languages and that the band won't return until 2026. The 'mystery' show on 3 September turned out to be a live performance of the upcoming Gorillaz album in full, with the band being joined by Anoushka Shankar, Asha Puthli, Black Thought, Sparks, Kara Jackson, Joe Talbot, Johnny Marr, Trueno, Yasiin Bey, Omar Souleyman, Gruff Rhys and Paul Simonon.
Following the announcement of Kong Studios' return, the album's artwork, release date and title, The Mountain, were leaked 2 days before its scheduled announcement. The first single from the album, The Happy Dictator, premiered on September 11 on the "New Music Show with Jack Saunders" on BBC Radio 1 at 6 pm UK time. On September 17, Gorillaz performed Damascus during Brian Eno's "Together For Palestine" fundraising concert at Wembley Arena. On October 8, The Manifesto was released as the second single. On November 6, the band released The God of Lying as the third single. On 2 December, two shows of the full album at the Hollywood Palladium were announced concurrently with an additional House of Kong exhibition run in Los Angeles for 22 and 23 February. On December 10, the band revealed the fourth single Damascus to Kong Card subscribers, before releasing it publically on December 12.
In an interview with Jo Whiley on BBC Radio 2, the band said that they might bring the release date forward from March to late January. On 12 December, they officially moved the release date to 27 February 2026. On 15 January 2026, The Hardest Thing and Orange County were released as a double A-side single, following the latter's premiere on BBC Radio 1. Orange County's premiere included an alternative radio mix by the song's co-producer, Bizarrap, which was released a week later on 23 January.
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