In 2017, Damon Albarn returned to his virtual outfit Gorillaz with their first record in five years, Humanz (QRO review), which upped Gorillaz’s murder’s row of guests. Despite its high quality, Albarn was criticized for so heavily using others, so now he’s gone in the opposite direction, taking just a year to put out The Now Now, which largely strips down to just Albarn.
Of course, Now begins on a guest track, “Humility” with George Benson, and the easily most notable song is “Hollywood”, thanks to appearances by Snoop Dogg and Jamie Principe – because any time Snoop Dogg shows up, it’s notable. But those are the only two pieces where Albarn goes to the guest well. Instead, the record sees him in a relaxed, resigned disco (even his parts of “Humility” and “Hollywood”), ambling about with his loss on numbers like “Idaho”, “Magic City”, and “Fire Flies”.
Damon Albarn has the musical talent to pull off what he shoots for, but The Now Now is remarkably less ambitious than usual from this very ambitious artist. In some ways, the quick release and lack of guests makes the album feel a bit like an addendum to Humanz, the sad, stripped pieces that didn’t fit on the former. But it is nice to see that Albarn & Gorillaz don’t need the guests to shine.
