Battlemouth

Journey to the west is a sweeping, beautiful, and quite often, funny work of ambient music from Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett, creators of Gorillaz. Written as accompaniment to an opera of classic chinese tale of the same name, it rises from it’s ties to exist as a unique piece of work on it’s own.

Journey to the west is a story many in the US know, but are not completely aware of. It has been adapted and alluded to in many eastern works, which have trickled towards the west. Take Dragonball for instance, the character of Goku is designed specifically after the Main Character Monkey, and in the first series, even takes a similar journey in search for his Iron Rod.

In the Opera that Jamie Hewlett has melded together at the request of director Chen Shi-Zheng, there is a similar focus on the Character of Monkey over that of the original protaganist, Tripitaka the monk. Triptaka Meets Monkey on the monk’s pilrimage to the western province along with a few other fellows: Pigsy the Lech, Sandy the Demon, and The Dragon Price, who has been transformed into a white horse.

Monkey is hearalded by literary analysists as the most compelling character. He is the monkey king, master of Tao, equal to all other dieties, and holder of the Iron Rod, a former support for the Dragon King’s Palace, with extreme weight and able to infinitely expand or contract in any direction. during the story he also becomes immortal, is caught in a furnace which turned his skin to steel, and starts various antics. No wonder Hewlett and company chose to focus on him.

The album is essentially the soundtrack to the opera, with lyrics in chinese that serve as a sort of adaptation as I understand it. The only true way to experience Monkey: Journey to the west at the moment is live, it’s currently set to run in Europe, but premiered in the US at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, NC.

Without seeing the full opera, I find apprehension in it’s review. Its almost as if I can’t do it justice, or comprehend the entire. That said, taken as an ambient/foreign language album, it stands tall, easily switching from casio keyboards to Powerful Organs, Strings and Brass. Jamie Hewlett’s Illustration for the album, and design for the stage, really mesh with Albarn’s production, and the album really paints the picture of each character; Much like Henry Mancini’s classic, “Baby Elephant Walk,” song titles add real connotations to the music within.

After a listen, the synopsis of the plot on their website, makes perfect sense. And this album will only make you hungry to see the Opera. Download it now from monkeyjourneytothewest.com or wait until tuesday to get the physical album.