$tay ¢old

Following on the success of their chart-topping blockbuster “St. Elsewhere,” the power duo of Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo Green are finally releasing some information about their forthcoming studio album, “The Odd Couple,” due out April 8. While the first single, “Run,” has already leaked and they’re rushing a video through production, a video for the second single “Who’s Gonna Save My Soul” has gone to Chris Milk, director of the band’s Grammy nominated video for “Gone Daddy Gone,” which we hear is going to feature a cameo by Justin Timberlake.

Again sampling heavily from British psych and acid folk of the late 1960s and sweeping Italian film scores, this is a significantly darker release. Here’s an exclusive review of a handful of album tracks:

“Going On” - The frenetic, dancey verses are reminiscent of “Smiley Faces,” complete with handclaps and organ accompaniment, but after lyrics like “I’m going on / And I’m prepared to go it alone / … / And I promise I’ll be waiting for you,” the song soon levels out into a creepy breakdown/fade out that leaves me picturing Cee-Lo traversing a desert wasteland to join the Fremen….

“Run” - What the hell, this one already leaked, so you can listen for yourself. Let us know what you think in the comments - is it going to be another “Crazy”?

“Would Be Killer” - Now granted, I am only reviewing a rough mix, but this song is sparse. It’s got the low-fi vibe of a live set in a dingy, smoky club, with a simple ascending bassline, some jazz guitar noodling and minimal snare. Cee-Lo’s practically growling the lyrics: “Hurt people / This is always how / Oh I’ve been entered by evil / So someone best love me right now / Because I could be a would be killer,” and I want to get as far away from this song as I possibly can cause it’s scaring the shit out of me.

“Open Book” - This is my jam right here, it unfolds like something off of Bjork’s “Homogenic,” looping sped up cuts of the strings from Francoise Hardy’s “Traume” into a sinister, practically tribal backing for the lyrical challenge: “So you mortals keep this in mind / This is the way I’m designed / And I am no coward so I’ll on die one time / Come on feel me / You’ll have to kill me / I am an open book.”

“Whatever” - With music ripped straight from a 1950s teeny bopper 45, Cee-Lo plays a whiny teen trying overly hard to prove his ambivalence about just about everything, from having no friends to never getting anything he wants to the heartbreak of a crush going steady with another guy, all with the common refrain of adolescents worldwide: “It’s cool, whatever.”