Damon Albarn’s understated, ornately melancholy Everyday Robots is one of The 50 Best Albums of 2014 So Far, and he made an impressive case last night on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. The big news for longtime fans of the project-hopping British singer and songwriter was that he performed Blur’s 1994 Parklife chamber-pop ballad “This Is a Low,” and the gentle piano rendering was devastating, as well as in keeping with the new record’s intricate intimacy (watch above). But just as arresting was Everyday Robots’ “Lonely Press Play” (below). After doing “This Is a Low” with his eyes almost completely closed, Albarn crooned this one with his eyes straight on the camera, and even when watching, alone, on a screen, the technological themes melt back into the deeply human, and personal, as he sings that “you’re not resolved in your heart / You’re waiting for me / to improve” — and then, pointing to his heart — “right here.” Can you blame the man for not being ready to finish when the applause broke out?
