As we await a new album from Gorillaz, they're teasing us on social media with a tale about one the band's characters. Today (Oct. 3), they released The Book of Noodle, which adds snippets of music and animation that may give a clue as to their direction.

The Book of Noodle arrived in the form of 12 tweets with videos embedded in them. It follows the guitarist as she left Plastic Beach -- a reference to their 2010 album -- during a pirate attack and wound up in Japan. Opening up a pearl shell, she unleashes Mazuu, a "shape-shifting devil of unimaginable evil," into the world, and the only way it can be destroyed is by decapitation. She manages to do it after dressing herself up as a geisha and then she ships herself back to bassist Murdoc Niccals' house in London.

Gorillaz alternate between the text and simply animated Japanese-themed drawings that tell the story, winding up with Mazuu's severed head on the floor. The music ranges from Japanese sounds to space-age bachelor pad music. They've created a hashtag out of "#TheBookofNoodle," so it's possible that this provides a hint at where they're going with their music and their characters.

Almost a year ago, Jamie Hewlett said that Gorillaz were looking to release a new album in 2016, and in April, he posted some footage of Damon Albarn working in the studio to his Instagram account. Gorillaz's last record was The Fall, which they gave away to their fan club on Christmas Day 2010 and released four months later. The group launched its own Instagram feed a couple of weeks ago with an overview of their history, which similarly suggested that big news from the group was imminent.

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