Now that the secrecy behind the Gorillaz upcoming album, The Now Now, has been lifted, Damon Albarn has free reign to perform whatever music he pleases. He used that privilege to the fullest yesterday, when he performed four unreleased tracks during a performance at the Rock AM Ring Festival in Germany.
While we've heard a bit of the album since it was revealed on a secret teaser website, this is the biggest crop of new material to date. During the performance, Albarn played six songs off the new album. Two of them, "Humility" and "Lake Zurich," had been released previously. However, four of the tracks: "Tranz," "Souk Eye," "Magic City," and "Sorcererz," made their debut.
Unlike other Gorillaz albums, this one is set to be relatively guest-free. Despite the legendary jazz guitarist George Benson featuring on "Humility" and the upcoming track with Snoop Dogg titled, "Hollywood," it's their most isolated project since their self-titled debut.
That's not necessarily a bad thing, however. According to Spin, the new focus on Albarn's vocals is by design. In an interview with Zane Lowe, Albarn said, "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."
The Now Now will be officially released on June 29th. Until then, feel free to get an advance look at the project by checking out the videos of the Gorillaz live performance below.