January 30, 2008

Gnarls Barkley Give New Song A 'Run' For Its Money; Firm Up Odd Couple LP

By James Montgomery (MTV.com)

Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. Tony Randall and Jack Klugman. And now, Brian "Danger Mouse" Burton and Thomas "Cee-Lo Green" Callaway.

The first two pairs were "Odd Couples" of the Neil Simon variety. The third? Well, they're better known as Gnarls Barkley, perhaps the oddest of all odd musical teams, which is probably why they've decided to call their sophomore album The Odd Couple. (Or maybe not - seriously, who knows with those two?)

That's right, according to the band's Web site, GnarlsBarkley.com, and confirmed by a spokesperson for its label, Atlantic, the dynamic duo of Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo Green will return on April 8 with Couple, the follow-up to their out-of-nowhere smash, St. Elsewhere.

There's no firm track list for Couple as of yet, but a song purportedly taken from the album - a crackling slab of soul called "Run," which recalls Sam & Dave's R&B classic "Hold on, I'm Comin' " - hit file-sharing sites late Monday, setting the Internet ablaze with hyperbole and hyperventilation. It sure sounded a lot like a Gnarls track (we'd recognize Green's caterwaul anywhere), and on Tuesday (January 29), Atlantic confirmed to MTV News that it is, in fact, the genuine article.

What else can fans expect from The Odd Couple? Well, according to several reports, Gnarls are still putting the finishing touches on the album in Los Angeles. And while no other details have been released, we can say it's going to be a labor of love.

"[W]e're going to do it at our pace," Danger Mouse told MTV News backstage at Baltimore's Virgin Festival in September (where they were dressed, naturally, as extras from "Spartacus"), when they had only recorded a few demos. "If we love what's coming out, then we'll do another record; if we don't love it the way we loved [St. Elsewhere], well, then we won't do it."