Location from Gorillaz by Damon Albarn & Jamie Hewlett
The floating windmill island from the El Mañana music video — the site of Noodle's apparent death and one of the most traumatic chapters in Gorillaz history.
The floating windmill island exists at the intersection of Gorillaz's animated reality and something harder to name — a place that shouldn't float but does, visible from the outside world but operating by different rules. It appears in the El Mañana music video as the site where Noodle was apparently attacked and killed, the island destroyed around her, the helicopters finally departing from ruin. What actually happened there — whether Noodle survived, where she went, how the timeline connects to her later reappearance — is one of the band's great mysteries. The island itself may still exist somewhere, drifting. The windmills may still be turning. This is not as comforting as it sounds.
A small island suspended impossibly in the sky, anchored by windmill towers that turn in winds that don't quite make sense. Below: clouds and the suggestion of ocean. The island is green and pretty, which makes what happens there worse. Gunship helicopters circle it in the worst version of events.
Also known as: El Mañana Windmill Island, The Windmill Island, El Mañana