about now

now (always written in lowercase) is a shape-shifting music project founded by songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Justin Paton in London in 1998. Since then, it has continued to evolve—sometimes as a solo act, sometimes as a band.

the sound

now’s sound is open to change, where rhythm, melody, songs, noise, calm, confusion, and clarity all find a place. The music blends acoustic & electric instruments with electronic elements. Sometimes the music is vocal and song-based, other times it’s groove-driven or focused on instrumental texture and sound.
It could be described as catchy, exotic, messy, mercurial, harmonious and disharmonious—a kind of alternative 21st-century pop.

live

Live performances have taken place in a wide variety of settings: outdoor festivals, art galleries, pubs, warehouses, basements across the UK (and occasionally in Norway & Japan)
A now show can be just Justin or a band of 3 to 6 people, depending on the space, collaborators, and mood. Some gigs lean into songs, others into repetition and groove, and some open up into complete improvisation. No two shows are the same.
There’s always a sense of play and attention in the way sounds come together—even when it gets messy or unpredictable, something holds it all in place.

Throughout its existence, now has shared stages with artists who also blur genres, including: Stereolab, Andrew Weatherall, Faust, Damo Suzuki, Roedelius, Charles Hayward, Plaid, Insides, Gagarin, Psapp, Spaceheads, A Hawk And A Hacksaw, Rothko, Circle, Japanese Television, Tunng, Gavilan Rayna Russom, and others.

recordings

now’s music can change direction without warning—a sweet melody one moment, a rhythmic detour or burst of noise the next.

Notable albums include pleasesorrythankyou (2017), Gold Star Lavender Marriage (2019), Won (2020) & Functionality Is Convenient (2023), all of which sound loose and alive, full of movement and change while still holding together.
The 2024 album Ra banb builds on that approach with a more pronounced focus on rhythm and interplay. It draws energy from an off-kilter funkiness where calm and chaos coexist, and where the boundaries between live and programmed sounds are constantly being redrawn.
Another highlight is The London Evening News (2007), a live & entirely improvised collaboration with former Can vocalist Damo Suzuki, recorded in 2004. The album moves through jagged funk & motorik grooves—a raw and restless document of real-time invention.
The debut album Frisbee Hot Pot (2006) set the tone early with lo-fi funk, samba breakdowns, rhythmic synth-heavy post-rock, and playful genre collisions.

Since its inception, now has released many albums, vocal & instrumental, composed & improvised – each shaped by its own unique conditions and collaborators, appearing on a range of adventurous and independent labels, including Beauty & Disgust, MottoMotto, Pickled Egg, flau, Freaksville and more.

As Plan B magazine once put it:
“Pursuing their offbeat, off-kilter and occasionally off-the-wall mashup of lo-fidelity experimental pop music and uptempo kosmik grooves at the fringes of underground and overground success, now continue to demonstrate the tireless heart of their being is something close to an unsung national treasure.”

A new album is always being worked on.

Twenty Years Of now

In 2018, now marked its 20th anniversary with a celebratory concert and a series of archival releases.
The 20 Years Of now concert took place at New River Studios in London and brought together many ex-now members from across the project’s history. By the end of the show, 17 musicians were onstage together, weaving through songs in a joyful and expansive performance. Various clips from the event can be seen on the now YouTube channel.

To accompany the concert, a live album was released, featuring highlights from the 20 Years Of now performance. Alongside this, three compilations of previously unreleased and non-album studio recordings—spanning the years 1998 to 2018—were made available.
A fourth compilation brought together previously released tracks, many of them presented in new and exclusive mixes and edits, creating a kind of ‘greatest hits’ collection.
Together, these releases (all found on Beauty & Disgust Recordings) offered a deep, sprawling reflection on two decades of activity, showing both the continuity and constant reinvention at the heart of now.