"Sleeping Powder" is a song by British

virtual band In entertainment, a virtual band (also called a virtual idol, virtual singer, virtual group, virtual artists, cartoon group, cartoon idol, cartoon singer or cartoon band) is a band or music group whose depicted members are not people, but animate ...

Gorillaz Gorillaz are an English virtual band created by musician Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett in London, England in 1998. The band primarily consists of four fictional members: (vocals, keyboards), Murdoc Niccals (bass guitar), Noodle (gui ...

. The song and its accompanying music video were released on 8 June 2017 via

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, with a live debut occurring that same day. It was later released for streaming via

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and

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on 16 June 2017.

Production

"Sleeping Powder" was the first song to be recorded and released after the release of ''

Humanz ''Humanz'' is the fifth studio album by British virtual band Gorillaz, released on 28 April 2017 by Parlophone in the United Kingdom and Warner Bros. Records in the United States. It was the band's first studio album released in seven years, fo ...

''. Through deliberate design (and in contrast to ''Humanz''), it doesn't feature any musical collaborators.

Damon Albarn Damon Albarn (, ; born 23 March 1968) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the frontman, main vocalist, and lyricist of the rock band Blur (band), Blur and the co-creator and primary musical con ...

, speaking through the perspective of fictional band member 2-D, explained this decision: "2-D felt maybe he was unrepresented on ''Humanz''. It wasn't a problem, but maybe he was a bit too generous, you know? So he thought he'd do a song just by himself, and make a video just with him, and not tell anyone else." "Sleeping Powder" was written only three days before its June 8 debut, and its video was completed a day prior to release. To facilitate such a speedy turnaround for a music video,

motion capture Motion capture (sometimes referred as mocap or mo-cap, for short) is the process of recording high-resolution motion (physics), movement of objects or people into a computer system. It is used in Military science, military, entertainment, sports ...

(provided by Albarn) was used for 2-D's animation. Backgrounds were largely composed of assorted

stock footage Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures, and file footage is film or video footage that can be used again in other films. Stock footage is beneficial to filmmakers as it saves shooting new material. A single piece of stock ...

Music video

The music video opens with a clip from the 1987 anti-drug PSA, '' This Is Your Brain on Drugs''. 2-D sits at a grand piano, playing along with the song's opening. As the song progresses, the room begins to warp, with the walls and furniture floating away to reveal a blue void. With every scene transition, the background shifts through several clips of stock footage while 2-D dances to the music. The music video ends as it started, with the room reconstructing itself as 2-D plays the piano once more.

Track listing

Digital release single # "Sleeping Powder" – 2:46

Personnel

– vocals, synthesizer, bass guitar, drums * Remi Kabaka Jr. – drum programming *John Davis – mastering engineer * Stephen Sedgwick – mixing engineer

References

{{Authority control 2017 songs Psychedelic soul songs Gorillaz songs Songs written by Damon Albarn Parlophone singles 2017 singles