Gnarls Barkley is back after an 18-year hiatus. On Thursday morning (Feb. 26), the Grammy-winning duo comprised of singer CeeLo Green and producer Danger Mouse released their first single from what they say is their third and final album, Atlanta, the dreamy pop tune “Pictures.”
The song is a memory experiment by singer Green, who reminisces about his childhood days whiling away the hours on Atlanta’s MARTA transit line, staring out the window and watching the world go by. “Looks like motion pictures/ Staring out the window of the MARTA train/ On an adventure/ Then back home again/ Looks just like pictures,” Green croons in his signature falsetto over DM’s simple, hypnotic organ and spare drum beat backing. “Staring out the window of the MARTA train/ It’s an adventure/ Till I make it back home again.”
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“The song came from a childhood experience. I had a middle school principal who, every Friday would tell me to go when I would get to school,” Green said of the single that reminisces about the pair’s teenage years in the 1990s. “Without fail. I was in 8th 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…staring out the window of the MARTA train.”
Atlanta, due out on March 6 from 10k Project/ Atlantic Records, is the long-awaited follow-up to the duo’s 2008 sophomore album, The Odd Couple, which spawned the Billboard Hot 100 No. 88 charting single “Going On.” The pair’s Grammy-nominated, multiplatinum debut album, 2006’s St. Elsewhere, spawned the massive hit “Crazy,” which ran up to No. 2 on the Hot 100 in May 2006 while topping the U.K. charts for nine weeks.
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According to a release announcing the return, the Atlanta natives had always intended to record a third album, but “life and other creative pursuits intervened,” before they reconnected last year to record the final chapter in their story. Green described “Pictures” as a return 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.”
In the intervening years, Green released four solo albums and two LPs with his hip-hop crew Goodie Mob and appeared as a judge on The Voice and Danger Mouse (born Brian Joseph Burton) worked on albums by Beck, Sparklehorse, U2, the Black Keys, Norah Jones, Portugal. The Man, A$AP Rocky and many others while releasing three albums as Broken Bells with the Shins’ James Mercer.
At press time, the group, who often performed in costume, have not revealed whether they will support the new album with a tour.
Listen to “Pictures” and check out the tracklist for Atlanta below.
