Pysch rockers return for sound adventure – 7/10
Flight B741 sees the prolific Australian band King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard leave the hermeneutics of their conceptually weighty recent offerings behind (Ice, death, planets, lungs, mushrooms and lava was, for example, a suite of seven pieces, each of which followed a classical Greek musical mode).
As the wailing harmonica rises from the rubble on opener “Mirage City,” it’s clear this is one of their more entertaining performances. An astonishing 26th studio LP, KGLW’s bustling sound this time is rooted in ’70s Southern rock, reminiscent of the more country-tinged tunes of Lynyrd Skynyrd, ZZ Top, and the Rolling Stones. They also regularly drift into Grateful Dead-style jams, with plenty of fine guitar playing to enjoy on songs like Chickin Pickin’d’s “Hog Calling Contest.”
The humour runs through the 10 tracks, which are distinctly King Gizz, as can be seen on ‘Field Of Vision’, with its glamorous call-and-response choruses, a head-shaking beat and outro chants of “I am a stupid guy.” Those words might sum up the band’s approach here. The six-piece band is said to have come together, cranked a couple of cheap amps to 11 and pressed record, passing around instruments and microphones like joints at a Ziggy Marley concert. While the record certainly has a lighthearted charm, the record’s busier moments become chaotic walls of homogenized noise.
While it’s not the most polished or boundary-pushing effort from the inimitable group, it still confirms that KGLW is a band that can (and, if things keep going this way, probably will) do anything.
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