As Gorillaz gears up to release their fifth album, Humanz, next Friday, the group has brought new meaning to branding and promotion of their new project. As a virtual band, the UK-based project has been able to reach across the globe to deliver new ways for fans to experience their music. With a TV show and North American tour slated in the books, Gorillaz has crossed the lines of 2D and 3D during a live stream, and this weekend, they'll launch a project they partnered on with audio company Sonos called The Spirit House.
If you caught our Instagram story from last night, you'll know that we got a pretty private tour of The Spirit House. Just underneath the Williamsburg Bridge in Brooklyn, the space that's now run by Sonos and Gorillaz is a haunted house of sorts. Led in through cloaked doorways and hallways, visitors can expect to be fully immersed in the world of the Gorillaz music videos, from dirty apartment kitchen and so on.
But this isn't a one-sided project, as since the launch of their brick and mortar store in New York City's SoHo neighborhood, Sonos has made it clear that partnering on new and innovative events like this is a priority for the brand. Along with this launch in New York, The Spirit House will debut this weekend in Amsterdam and Berlin. The most engaging piece of the experience is by far the room we'll call the projection room: a soundproof room where we were fully immersed in Gorillaz's new music and visuals, led by Sonos's latest addition to their audio fleet – the Playbase. Honing in on production techniques we usually see at concerts and creating a 180-degree experience, we are reminded again the power of sitting down, listening (and watching) to music at high quality.
It's been nearly 16 years since the debut of Gorillaz's self-titled debut, and since, fans have fallen in love with the group for their drive to create new experiences, like this, surrounding their music.
