Bando stone and the new world reviews

Atwood Magazine’s writers discuss Childish Gambino’s final album ‘Bando Stone and The New World,’ unpacking the songs themselves, the artist’s illustrious 14-year journey, and the legacy of musical innovation and disruption that Donald Glover’s alter ego now leaves behind.



Featured here are Atwood writers Ankita Bhanot, Ciaran Short, Dimitra Gurduiala, Dominic Kureen, and Minna Abdel-Gawad!





— —


To start, what is your relationship with Childish Gambino’s music?



Ciaran Short
: I’ve been a fan of Donald Glover for what feels like my entire conscious life, particularly in terms of my relationship with the internet and the early mixtape and YouTube eras. I have a brother who’s five years older than me, so I luckily got exposed to a lot of music and comedy that I likely wouldn’t have otherwise, principally Childish Gambino and derrickcomedy. I have a very vivid memory of being about ten years old and my brother begrudgingly tolerating my presence with him and his friends, and hearing Childish Gambino’s first mixtape
Sick Boi
for the first time. His music sounded accessible to me in a different way than a lot of other hip-hop and I’ve closely followed everyt



Confusing, messy, and occasionally very good. We know by now that Donald Glover isn’t the type to stick to just one lane, but maybe 17 lanes all at once is a bad idea




Billed as Donald Glover’s final album under the
Childish Gambino
moniker, and purportedly the soundtrack to a film of the same name. Although how real that project is seems increasingly questionable as very little detail has emerged other than a brief trailer. It kind of works as a pastiche of blockbuster movie soundtracks; an overlong mishmash curated to appeal to as many trends as possible. Maybe his intent here was to create an elaborate parody; that still doesn’t mean it’s actually enjoyable though. Stylistically and thematically, it’s a mess.

There’s hints that it could be a concept album as dialogue from the supposed film is interspersed between tracks, and some lyrics see him seemingly take on the character of Bando Stone. But there isn’t a clear narrative playing out across tracks, and without an actual film to accompany it, you’re left with little idea of who these characters are. Plus it’s not always clear whether he’s in character or not, as he randomly seems to revert to being Gambino and/or Glo






Hi, everyone. Band Stonetano here, the internet's busiest music nerd. It's time for a review of this new
Childish Gambino
album,
Bando Stone and the New World
.

Yes, here we have a brand new album from rapper, songwriter, singer, actor, director, producer, Mr.
Donald Glover
, aka Childish Gambino. This will be his fifth and final album under the Gambino name, as Glover seems to be continuing and revamping his music career but wants to do it under a different moniker, maybe his own name. Either way, he seems to be retiring the somewhat tongue-in-cheek Gambino thing that helped put him on the map in the first place.

This record, important to note, also serves as the soundtrack for an upcoming film of the same name, starring Glover. Not a lot is yet known about the movie outside of a few cast members, and that synopsis-wise, I guess it's a survival film with an apocalyptic setting, and Glover plays a singer of all things in this scenario. There are little tidbits of all of this peppered throughout the album in the intros and outros to these tracks, arriving in the form of these vocal snippets performed by the actors in the film. And while none of this gives a full pictu


When Donald Glover, as Childish Gambino, is focused, some of his best work comes to light, like
Because the Internet
and
Awaken My Love
; however, when he feels like he’s throwing more things at the wall, you get stuff like
Camp
and
Atavista
, both of which have significant highs, but lesser. His new album,
Bando Stone and The New World
, is more of the former two, elevated to take hold as a conceptual album where Gambino unveils his artistic range with eclectic new sounds and clean transitions; you get almost taken aback by it. Within a microcosm of sound, Gambino gravitates towards the most robust components of the genres he has experimented in and combines them to create something powerful, especially from the production side. Gambino still has his quirky moments in his raps that showcase the nature in which Gambino presents himself, but it’s when it flips the script into more singing is where the true light shines.
Bando Stone
has a solid balance between both. So, as you comb through his last album under the moniker Childish Gambino, you’ll love the growth and artistic direction alongside Ludwig Göransson (and more) on break from film scores.

What’s unfortunate abo