It’s a good time to be a Childish Gambino fan. The multi-talented phenom also known as Donald Glover seems to be popping out everywhere as of late, with him recently re-releasing his album Atavista and his most recent appearance at this past weekend’s BET Awards 2024. He’s also getting ready to do big things as he’s revealed that his supposed final project released under his current musical moniker, Bando Stone & The New World, will be both a feature film and a soundtrack. He’s set it all up quite nicely by releasing the soundtrack’s lead single “Lithonia” and a movie trailer.
“Lithonia” begins with a rousing-yet-ominous organ before Gambino tells us the gravelly-voiced story of one Cody LaRae. “Cody LaRae / He had a break / He’s findin’ out / That nobody gives a f**k,” he sings on the opening chorus. “I did my job / I paid my dues / Love is for fools / ’Cause nobody gives a f**k.” Then some ’70s-inspired synth stings take us into a full-on grunge opera as crunchy electric guitar and tight harmonies lead us into the story of a man discovering that love and life ain’t fair.
The song sounds pretty epic, and that’s perhaps because the film itself looks to be an epic tale. The film’s trailer opens with a man who we find out is the title character Bando Stone. He awakens to discover that he might be the last man on earth. He's soon dissuaded of that notion, however, when he meets a gun-toting woman and child who school him on what he might’ve missed while he was sleeping. A lot of things happen in the next few moments of the trailer, including multiple chase scenes featuring humongous mutant animals and mysterious beams of light that aren’t yet explained.
Not much else is known about the movie Bando Stone & The New World other than it will be exclusively shown in IMAX whenever it’s released. The soundtrack, however, is set to arrive in full on July 19th. Listen to lead single “Lithonia” when you press play and then head below to get an eyeful of the film’s two-minute trailer.
