The gap between Gorillaz’s last two albums, 2011’s The Fall and 2017’s Humanz, was six years, but it’ll take much less time for the follow-up to the band’s album from last year. Damon Albarn said at the end of 2017 that the group would have a new record out in 2018, and they even started playing new music live back in March. Gorillaz confirmed a couple days ago that a new album would in fact be out on June 29, and now, The Now Now, Gorillaz’s sixth album, has been formally announced.
The tracklist is significantly less guest-heavy than that of Humanz, as it only features guest appearances on two of the eleven tracks: George Benson on album opener “Humility,” and Snoop Dogg and Jamie Principle on “Hollywood.” The announcement is accompanied by a video for the album’s lead single, “Humility,” a chilled out, midtempo, electronica-influenced track. The video was filmed in Venice Beach last month, and features a busking Jack Black shredding on guitar, as well as a roller-skating 2D.
New @gorillaz album features @SnoopDogg and is produced by James Ford #TheNowNow pic.twitter.com/3nP5D4G0Mb
— Zane Lowe (@zanelowe) May 31, 2018
The song premiered on Zane Lowe’s Beats 1 Apple Radio show, and Albarn said that The Now Now is light on collaborators because he wrote most of the album while on tour in the US, and that Snoop Dogg is featured because they were in Los Angeles. He also says the album was produced by James Ford, a member of Simian Mobile Disco whose recent production credits include Arctic Monkeys’ Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino and Florence And The Machine’s How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful.
Check out the The Now Now tracklist below. Gorillaz also announced a short North American tour in support of the album, so find those seven dates (in Toronto, Montreal, Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Chicago, and Los Angeles) below as well.
1. “Humility” (feat. George Benson)
2. “Tranz”
3. “Hollywood” (feat. Snoop Dogg and Jamie Principle)
4. “Kansas”
5. “Sorcererz”
6. “Idaho”
7. “Lake Zurich”
8. “Magic City”
9. “Fire Flies”
10. “One Percent”
11. “Souk Eye”
10/8 — Toronto, ON @ Air Canada Centre *
10/9 — Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre *
10/11 — Philadelphia, PA @ Wells Fargo Center *
10/13 — New York, NY @ Barclays Center *
10/14 — Boston, MA @ TD Garden **
10/16 — Chicago, IL @ United Center *
10/20 — Los Angeles, CA @ Demon Dayz Festival
* with The Internet
** with Little Dragon
The Now Now is out 6/29 via Warner Bros. Records. Pre-order it here.
