18 years after the release of its second album, Gnarls Barkley — the long-absent duo of producer Danger Mouse and singer/rapper Cee-Lo Green — is back with a new single, “Pictures,” ahead of the March 6 release of a third and final full-length for 10k Projects/Atlantic, Atlanta.
Green says the single, which reminisces about Atlanta’s MARTA public transit line, “is like going back to square one, It’s a full circle moment. The spirit of Gnarls Barkley is always self-discovery. The sweet, the sad, and the strange. The universe, the adventure inside of yourself.”
“The song came from a childhood experience,” he adds. “I had a middle school principal who, every Friday, would tell me to go when I would get to school. Without fail. I was in eighth grade and I would leave school and ride the train alone from 8am until 2:30pm. The hook of the song is literally about being on the train. When you are in transit it’s like a motion picture passing you by.”
Danger Mouse and Green emerged out of nowhere in 2006 with the multi-platinum album St. Elsewhere and its omnipresent single “Crazy,” which topped charts around the world and has been streamed more than 1.4 billion times on Spotify. The pair quickly followed it up with 2008’s The Odd Couple, played 100 live shows (often in costume) over a two-year period and always planned to make another album, but life and other professional pursuits got in the way.
Green put out solo albums, reunited with Atlanta rap crew Goodie Mob, served as a coach on The Voice and wrote a memoir, while Danger Mouse started the band Broken Bells with the Shins’ James Mercer and produced artists such as U2, Adele, A$AP Rocky and Gorillaz.
Here is the track list for Atlanta:
Tomorrow Died Today
I Amnesia
Pictures
Line Dance
Turn Your Heart Back On
Let Me Be
Cyberbully (Yayo)
Perfect Time
Sweet Evil
Boy Genius
The Be Be King
Sorry
Accept It
