Review Summary: The Flaming Lips ask you to journey to a land of pink wizards and unicorns with their latest offering.
Upon first listen, the lead single off The Flaming Lips fourteenth proper studio album,
Oczy Mlody, seems like a bit of false advertising. “The Castle” is reflective and vulnerable in a way that exudes wisdom. Perhaps the next phase in band’s decades spanning career of reinvention would allow the listener to reflect through the mind of a man who has certainly been around the block.
Instead, the album initially bombards the listener with a deeply psychedelic album drenched in lyrics about unicorns and wizards. They run the risk of delving too far into the absurd, but for the most part, the band raises the Syd Barrett flag high enough to make the album an immersive listening experience (probably even more so if you’re into the variety of substances that allegedly enhance this kind of devil’s music).
Still, one can’t help but wonder if the album could have used just a tad more of the humanity that somehow turned the tale about two scientists racing for the good of all mankind into an emotional roller-coaster.
Some of the nonsensical lyrics of early tracks such as “How??” (White trash rednecks/earthworms eat the ground/Legalize it, every drug right now) and “There Should Be Unicorns” (which includes a spoken word piece by comedian Reggie Watts about defecating magical beasts) may scare listeners into thinking that lead singer Wayne Coyne has taken an acid trip that has no return. They wouldn’t necessarily be wrong, but the music offers enough fresh sounds to accept the madness.
Oczy Mlody doesn’t quite sound like any other album in the Lips catalog, which is quite astonishing considering they have run the gauntlet. It combines their psych rock grooves with electronic leaning beats that never bore. Credit should also be given for the band’s continuing respect of the album format. Many of the tracks seamlessly slip into each other, allowing the trip to continue uninterrupted.
Once firmly entrenched in the albums psychedelic atmosphere, the listener can begin to enjoy highlights such as the lust driven slow jam “Galaxy I Sink” and the hallucinogenic storytelling of “One Night While Hunting for Faeries and Witches and Wizards to Kill.”
The band also continues to embrace the dark lyrics which have been an increasing presence since 2009’s
Embryonic. “Have you ever seen someone die/In the summertime?” asks Coyne on “Listening to The Frogs with Demon Eyes.”
Coyne’s far-out lyrics are delivered with a sense of melancholia, which adds a welcome layer of emotion to this affair. His delivery, combined with the lush sonic landscape created by multi-instrumentalist Steven Drozd, make it apparent that there are some deceptively hidden real-life meanings to these tracks. In this way, the reflection promised in “The Castle” is somewhat fulfilled.
For the past few years the Flaming Lips relationship with pop-star Miley Cyrus has received more coverage than their actual music. Their unlikely friendship does not seem to be going anywhere, and the band has always had a knack for off-beat collaborations. Cyrus shows up on the frustratingly titled album closer “We a Family.” Her voice works fine with the song, but I’d have given anything within my means for the band to have changed the title to “We’re A Family.”
It is comforting to know that the Lips are not content with being a nostalgia act and want to continue pushing boundaries this far into the game. Perhaps their next release will have a bit more of an emotional pull. Until then, I’ll enjoy my vicarious acid trip with
Oczy Mlody.
-Adam Danishefsky
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Source: http://www.blownspeakers.net/music/the-flaming-lips-oczy-mlody
