Short, stripped-back and sadly plain – a big trio of trouble was ahead for Gorillaz. Their return was a lacklustre one with Humanz, a trend of mediocrity continued through The Now Now. Feature Snoop Dogg as much as you like, it does nothing to elevate this jagged and twinkling piece of post-Humanz slop. Prolific because of how easy it is to whack a collaboration out with Gorillaz’s name value lasting on, The Now Now is reserved. It takes a similar approach to their earliest years, the glory days when they were not stuck in a rut of reliance on bigger names. Damon Albarn takes centre stage, attempts to tackle the wave of collaborative misuse and get back on track, as opening collaboration Humility attempts. At least getting back on track is attempted, with the help of George Benson.
All the focus is now on instrumentals – this hope of electronic fluster covering the lacklustre lyrics. There is cheap fun to be had with the likes of Tranz and Hollywood, a club floor thump to the latter and a Snoop Dogg addition makes for a light listen. Background music has its place but consider where Gorillaz were at the time of this release. Reeling from Humanz, the brush of cheapness controversy still lingered on The Fall from a near decade before it. What came after is no better, with Song Machine and Cracker Island’s lacklustre efforts bombarded by a withered attempt to breathe new life into an old project with more big names – drafted in for their value as chart toppers than for anything they can bring through.
This is the crucial middle ground for The Now Now, which strips back its collaborative processes and instead fixates on the instrumental qualities of drum machine beauties and sparks of electricity on Kansas. A laid-back kick hits through, and the inhibition Albarn struggles with makes itself known on Sorcererz. But he is not hitting out against it, instead warming to it and suggesting people use their inability to relax as a push to stride out of their comfort zone. Some wonderful disco-like funk and tech exploitation on Lake Zurich marks a tremendous change of pace, a real one-off which would continue elsewhere, with the likes of Sons of Ken and Acid Klaus maintaining this sound. But where did the flair go? Albarn loses himself in the flurry of these latter tracks and brings himself back from this passive state for closer Souk Eye.
By then the damage is done. Indifferent flutters and half a record worth listening to, a decent flow to it all but ultimately the lighter spots feel distant, empty even. Was it the extra time Albarn needed to feel fully comfortable fitting himself into the mighty Gorillaz unit again, or was it a sign he could no longer step up and offer enough lyrical value on his own? Whatever the case, the slimmed down and shortened developments heard on The Now Now are a sign of things which would follow, though it is hard to knock an album which has a quality open and close. The likes of Magic City and Fire Flies may be forgotten but Gorillaz, at this stage, still had something flickering underneath the barrage of collaborations.
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