''Eutopia'' is a 2020 EP by British trip hop group Massive Attack, released on on the band's YouTube account as a collection of three music videos; as of , it remains unavailable on Music streaming services. The EP represents the band's first work in four years, following the 2016 releases of the '' Ritual Spirit'' EP and the single " The Spoils". Recorded during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, the three tracks feature spoken word passages from influential academics calling for action on climate change, tax havens and universal basic income.

Background

During the spring of 2020, Robert "3D" Del Naja worked on a politically-themed audio-visual Massive Attack EP called ''“Eutopia”'', consisting of three tracks created across five cities during the COVID-19 global lockdown period, with documentary filmmaker Mark Donne, AI Art pioneer Mario Klingemann and vocal collaborations with

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...

, Young Fathers and US poet

Saul Williams Saul Stacey Williams (born February 29, 1972) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, musician, poet, writer, and actor. He is known for his blend of poetry and alternative hip hop, and for his lead roles in the 1998 independent film ''Slam'' ...

. The spirit of the EP was inspired by Thomas More's 16th century book '' Utopia'' to address the need for global change amid COVID-19 pandemic. Each of the tracks of ''Eutopia'' discusses a political issuethe climate crisis, tax havens, and universal basic incomeaccompanied with relevant commentary by public academics

Christiana Figueres Karen Christiana Figueres Olsen (born 7 August 1956) is a Costa Rican diplomat who has led national, international and multilateral policy negotiations. She was appointed Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFC ...

, Guy Standing, and Gabriel Zucman. Professor Standing of the SOAS University of London said in an interview on the university website: "The collaboration began when Massive Attack contacted me after the pandemic hit, which was shortly after my new book came out in March. I think they had read or at least seen my earlier book, which is my analysis of the ethical and economic foundations of basic income."

Visuals

The visuals for the music videos were co-written and co-produced by Robert Del Naja and documentary filmmaker Mark Donne, using artificial intelligence manipulated by Mario Klingemann. He has previously collaborated with Massive Attack and filmmaker Adam Curtis on the ''Mezzanine XXI'' show.'A rare interview with Massive Attack’s Robert Del Naja on creating the most subversive live show of 2019', The Fader, 25 September 2019 https://www.thefader.com/2019/09/25/massive-attack-robert-del-naja-mezzanine-interview

Track listing

Personnel

Massive Attack * Robert "3D" Del Naja Additional musicians *Euan Dickinson – Sound Engineer *

**Franklin James Fisher– vocals **Ryan Mahan– bass guitar **Lee Tesche– guitar **Matt Tong– drums *

* Young Fathers **Kayus Bankole **'G' Hastings **Alloysious Massaquoi Spoken word *

* Guy Standing * Gabriel Zucman Visuals * Robert Del Naja * Mark Donne * Mario Klingemann

References

{{authority control 2020 EPs Collaborative albums Concept albums Massive Attack EPs Self-released EPs Political music albums by English artists Climate change in music Albums about the COVID-19 pandemic