Not content with dropping a brand new tracks, ‘Humility’ and ‘Lake Zurich’, Gorillaz’ mastermind Damond Albarn has been letting slip all kinds of new info to Zane Lowe on Beats 1.
Talking as he debuted the first taste from new album ‘The Now Now’, out 29th June, he revealed that he wrote the record on tour, and that it’s relatively light on the guest spots this time around, with Albarn doing most of the singing.
“I just wanted to make another record so that when we play the gigs this summer there is something nice to play everyone,” Damon explained. “I thought I should make a record where I’m just singing for once. I mean, sorry, 2-D singing for once. It’s an album, I sing on it. It’s pretty much just me singing, very sort of in the world of 2-D but kind of come out and he’s singing very expressively. I feel really good about it. I feel really really good about it….It’s a summer record.”
“There was not really any [collaborations]. I wrote most of it on tour back in America. Snoop [Dogg] is on it because we were in LA and Jamie [Principle] because he was on the tour. And then just so randomly sort of George Benson and that’s it really.”
The record was recorded with super producer James Ford. “I’ve never worked with him before,” Albarn revealed. “But we immediately sort of hit it off. He’s really fantastic. I mean it’s perfect for me. I really enjoyed working with him, I’d love to work with him again.”
While there, Damon also revealed that he’s finished work on The Good, The Bad & The Queen’s much anticipated second album. “The weirdest thing is that you just called me up and I was just in the middle of a playback for another record which I sort of finished,” he said. “Remember The Good, the Bad & the Queen? I know people don’t like me talking about two things at once because the way the world works these days is everything is so clearly formatted that it becomes confusing. So anyways, it’s been a really exciting time. It’s been a fantastic year so far. Been in South Africa, did a album with amazing artists and then did The Now Now and then The Good, The Bad & The Queen so it’s a lot of music coming out. I hope I’ve been good with my editing otherwise everyone is going to be sick of what I do.”