King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard: Phantom Island
(p(doom))
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Accompanied by an orchestra, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard proceed their seek for new sonic horizons on Phantom Island. Elliott Simpson evaluations.
Do King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard ever fear about reaching the tip of their lengthy, extravagant costume rack? Throughout their twenty-seven-album profession, the Australian band have worn virtually as many outfits. Prior to now 5 years alone, we’ve seen them dip between punishing thrash rock, analogue synth odysseys, and jam-band grooves that get into the tremendous particulars of fungal colonies. Whereas the group was as soon as intently related to different acts from the psych-rock scene (Osees, Ty Segall, Fuzz), they’re now in a league of their very own. A league the place they’ll simply promote out Crimson Rocks or the Royal Albert Corridor months upfront, the place they’ve the kind of rabid fanbase it takes different bands a long time to assemble.
The 2 principal causes for this are their prolificness (twenty-seven albums in 13 years) and the aforementioned costume rack. Not all the band’s experimentations have been fully profitable, however, at worst, they’ve no less than been attention-grabbing detours. Once I noticed the band dwell final, they opened the present hunched over a desk loaded with synthesisers and cables, enjoying songs from 2023’s The Silver Wire. Although it was by far the weakest a part of the present (issues picked up considerably as soon as they grabbed their guitars), it’s exhausting to not admire the band for going there. Much more admirable is the truth that King Gizzard’s fanbase, the gizzheads, are all the time onboard for no matter detour the band desires to take subsequent.
And so, enter Phantom Island, touted because the band’s orchestral album. It’s a sonic shift that is sensible – if solely as a result of this is without doubt one of the few sounds King Gizzard hasn’t explored but. In response to the band, Phantom Island grew out of the periods from their earlier album, Flight b741, which noticed them delve into Steve Miller-core seventies rock. Given how back-to-basics that album sounded, this origin story might sound unusual; when you hearken to Phantom Island, nonetheless, all of it begins to make sense. At its coronary heart, the album carries the identical meat ‘n’ potatoes rock DNA as Flight b741, solely with some orchestral dressing excessive.
The clearest instance of that is the track Deadstick, a rollicking quantity that wouldn’t have felt misplaced on the final King Gizzard album. The one factor that marks it out as completely different is the brassy stomp of the orchestral overdubs. The addition of trumpets, trombones, and saxophones provides the track a muscle that it wouldn’t have had on Flight b741, shifting issues in a extra Steely Dan jazz-rock territory. And it’s unimaginable enjoyable. The band indulge of their extra goofy tendencies on Deadstick, with handclaps, cartoony falsettos, and a roaring guitar solo. It’s inconceivable to withstand stomping alongside to.
If there’s one factor that marks Phantom Island out as completely different from Flight b741, nonetheless, it’s a lack of hooks. Outdoors of Deadstick, there isn’t a track on right here that appears like a single. A lot of the album’s different tracks as a substitute take inspiration from a distinct kind of ‘70s rock: prog. The album opens with a sea of swirling strings, twinkling piano notes, and cooing trumpets, earlier than the acquainted roar of the band’s guitars arrive a couple of minutes in. Much more of a detour is Lonely Cosmos, Phantom Island’s most formidable second. On it, an acoustic guitar emerges from a swamp of haunted strings, earlier than the track strikes by way of a number of completely different phases, shifting forwards and backwards between high-energy whimsy and black moodiness.
Phantom Island, like a lot of King Gizzard’s releases, can also be an idea album, with the band’s three vocalists buying and selling verses forwards and backwards throughout the monitor record. (Whether or not the three of them are supposed to be voicing the identical character or completely different ones is unclear, particularly as their singing voices are just about indistinguishable.) The plot focuses on an astronaut (pilot?) who’s stranded in house, weighed down by existential angst, and desperately looking for a method to get house to his household. For a band that’s specialised in ridiculous, high-concept premises involving dinosaurs, robots, and killer wasps, the storyline right here is fairly muted, with most of it enjoying out in the principle character’s head. Truthfully, it’s not rather more than a nice-to-have. It’s unlikely that anybody besides probably the most devoted gizzheads are going to dive into the particulars of the lyrics.
All in all, Phantom Island appears like a less-than-essential entry within the band’s catalogue. However then once more, what does ‘important’ even imply in the case of a band like King Gizzard? The extravagance of their costume rack has ensured they can symbolize a thousand completely different bands to a thousand completely different individuals. And whereas I’ll all the time have probably the most fondness for the group’s early psych-heavy days (Nonagon Infinity will all the time be the benchmark), I do know different followers see the thrash-metal albums as their peak, and others their jam-band materials. Perhaps followers that get on board with Phantom Island will see orchestral King Gizzard as their truest kind. And actually, it’s these disagreements that spotlight why they’re such a particular, particular band.
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You will discover King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard on-line right here.
All phrases by Elliott Simpson. You will discover extra writing by Elliott for Louder Than in his writer’s archive and different work on his web site. His 33 1/3 e book on Yo La Tengo’s And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out is obtainable now.
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