Only a year removed from Damon Albarn’s previous album under the Gorillaz name, Humanz, a new album, The Now Now, was released in late June. Gorillaz, a “virtual band” of cartoon characters founded by Albarn and Jamie Hewlett at the turn of the millenium, has been through many changes. The transition from Humanz toThe Now Now is no exception. In stark contrast to Humanz and its extensive tracklist of fourteen songs and six interludes, The Now Now is made up of eleven songs. Another notable contrast between the two albums is the comparative prevalence of Albarn’s voice on The Now Now; while only one song on The Now Now features guest vocals, there was only one song on the entire Humanz tracklist that did not have guest vocals of some kind.
The Now Now opens on a bright note with “Humility,” a fun, beachy jam that features funky guitar backgrounds from jazz legend George Benson. The album then immediately takes a turn toward the dark with “Tranz,” a lively track with sparkly yet foreboding instrumentals. Following “Tranz” is “Hollywood,” a unique song on the album in that, as mentioned earlier, it is the only track with guest vocals. Featuring Jamie Principle and Snoop Dogg, each of whom have previously contributed to a Gorillaz album, “Hollywood” is a welcome deviation from the standard of much of the album. Principle’s unique voice helps create a funky feel, and Snoop Dogg’s verse is a great component, even if it’s pretty mediocre by his standards. Unfortunately, the album drops straight from this point into one of its lowest points. Both “Kansas” and “Sorcererz,” while being rather catchy, are lacking in anything really interesting. At this point, the lack of diversity due to the absence of guest vocalists begin to show. However, the following track, “Idaho,” is a nice change in pace; a slow, atmospheric ballad, it acts as a fitting centerpiece for the album. After this comes a big change in musical style, with “Lake Zurich.” This track is primarily instrumental, and is full of sizzling sounds reminiscent of disco music. A drum fll leads into “Magic City,” which is a very enjoyable song, even if it sounds a bit generic. “Magic City” is followed by “Fire Flies,” which sadly turned out not to be a cover of the 2009 hit by Owl City. While “Fire Flies” does shake it up a bit with an interesting hybrid time signature, as a slow song, it is easily upstaged by “Idaho.” The penultimate track on the album, “One Percent,” is a complete letdown. The song goes nowhere, and has rather ambiguous lyrics. The album does end on a good note, though; the closing track, “Souk Eye,” is a compelling fade into silence.
Overall, despite being mostly made up of good songs, The Now Now turned out to be somewhat of a disappointment. While it’s nice that Damon Albarn’s voice is in the spotlight more often than in past Gorillaz albums, the lack of guest vocalists throughout the album causes it to feel overly monotonous. In addition, while the album’s songs cover a wide variety of musical styles, The Now Now lacks the fun quirks of prior Gorillaz albums. This too can likely be partially explained by the lack of guest vocalists.
Ultimately, though, the most glaring problem with this album was the absence of a clear, original vision. The past few major Gorillaz albums each had an overarching concept tying the songs together; Demon Days was about the world in the aftermath of 9/11, Plastic Beach was about the relationship between nature and technology, and Humanz was a comparison of current politics to an apocalyptic event. In contrast, the closest thing The Now Now has to a concept is the idea of isolation and loneliness. This concept would potentially be interesting if it had not already been addressed by Albarn under the Gorillaz name; 2010 release The Fall took a more experimental look at this idea. The Now Now, in a way, feels like a blander copy of The Fall. The similarities are uncanny. Both albums have multiple songs named after U.S. states and cities (“Phoner to Arizona” and “Detroit” in The Fall, “Kansas” and “Hollywood” in The Now Now); The guitar background in “One Percent” is taken directly from The Fall’s “California and the Slipping of the Sun;” and they are even the only two Gorillaz albums to begin with the word “The.” This lack of originality in concept is the largest shortcoming of The Now Now. All in all, the album includes some quality songs worth listening to, but is rather disappointing as an overall listening experience.