Gnarls Barkley is in the process of finishing up work on a follow up to their massively successful breakthrough disc St. Elsewhere, but don’t expect another “Crazy.” Band co-founder Danger Mouse expressed disappointment the hit single overshadowed the rest of the album; “Crazy” set a record for being the first single to go straight to #1 in the UK based on digital download sales alone, retaining the top position for over nine weeks.

Danger Mouse, along with partner in crime Cee-Lo, refused to give many details about the new album; however, they dropped a few hints. Danger Mouse said the new disc should be listened to as one interrelated unit–not as a package as individual singles.

“No song is ever done until we have all the material together. When we have enough songs to the point where we have an album’s worth, then we’ll go in and start finished them together, so they have a cohesiveness to them, and we know where they fit with each other.

“Some of the songs may be exactly the same, and some may end up being very different.”

More on the new Gnarls Barkley disc, along with this week’s free MP3, after the jump.

Although Gnarls Barkley played the V Festival in April, they declined to play new material, instead choosing to be insanely secretive about the songs on the disc. So far, a writer for Billboard is the only outsider to hear samples of the new material; Danger Mouse, aka Brian Burton, played one new song during their recent interview. The reporter described the new song as “an even deeper slice of soul than anything from St. Elsewhere [with] the most forceful vocal performance Cee-Lo has ever given.”

It may be quite a while before we’re able to judge the new disc for ourselves; it’s rumored to hit stores in December, but the boys declined to confirm the date.

MP3: Gnarls Barkley – “Crazy“