Gnarls Barkley, the duo of CeeLo Green and Danger Mouse, have announced their third and final album.
Titled Atlanta, it’s also their first in 18 years and will be out next week, March 6, which is just a month shy of the 20th anniversary of their hit debut album, St. Elsewhere. The first single from the album is “Pictures,” a laid back, cinematic soul number. According to the press statement, Gnarls Barkley always intended to make a third album together. Unfortunately, “life and other creative pursuits intervened.” But the creative energy never faded, and the duo wanted to properly finish what they started. Finally, they made time to reconnect last year and get started on the final chapter. CeeLo spoke on his inspirations for the song:
“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. 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 features 13 tracks, with “Pictures” falling in as the third song. While there’s not much to glean from the titles just yet, they serve as interesting jumping-off points for speculation. The album opens with “Tomorrow Died Today”, before leading into “I Amnesia” and “Pictures”. There’s also “Line Dance”, “Turn Your Heart Back On”, “Let Me Be”, “Sweet Evil”, “Boy Genius”, and several others. The final closers are “Sorry” and “Accept It”, which definitely spark some interest in the album’s flow.
