The third release of the month King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard (KG&LW) is titled changesand once again it is a change of genre for the band, which we have already normalized as part of this project that changes genre and does not stop releasing albums. Just so far this year, the Australians have given us five studio albums, and we don’t know if more will come before 2023, a situation that fascinates us.
Under the production of its frontman Stu Mackenzie (Stonefield, The Toxhards), KG&LW launches seven new songs that barely exceed 40 minutesand as we are used to, there are quite a few surprises in this new record material.
The only constant is the sound exploration
As if they get bored as soon as they finish composing something, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard Head Into New Territories Every Time They Release An Album. We’ve heard them surf, psychedelic rock, hints towards jazz, folk and even dream pop. For changesfocus on a retro sound of Rhytm and Blues and pop in all songswith some nuances of his vintage, intense moments towards the end of “Change”, and the addition of more contemporary effects, such as switching sides on the left and right channels.
It is no coincidence that hehe opening song of the album reflects again and again on change, affirms that we are all in that constant and invites us to change. Such a chameleon-like band knows a lot about it. Even the duration of each song varies a lot, so we can expect everything from the group, except monotony.
In Stu’s words: “Each song is built around a chord progression, each song is a variation on a theme”. Even considering this, It is refreshing the amount of elements that they incorporate in each song: wind instruments, distortions, keyboards and even synthesizer leads (“Gondii”, “Short Change”).
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard’s most worked album so far
Of the 23 King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard studio albums released in just ten years –a real madness–, changes It is the album that has taken the longest to finish. “It’s not necessarily our most complex record, but every little piece and sound you hear has been thought through a lot”shared Stu prior to the release of this album. They’ve been working on this album since 2017, but they just didn’t think it was finished, until now..
The obsession of these musical nerds makes us believe them, and that is Songs like “Astroturf” or “Exploding Suns” are simply a delight to listen to, with every detail about the recording and production taken care of. Contrary to some of the band’s most iconic moments, changes generally shows a calmer side, but very worked.
For several things It’s not a conventional album by King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard who have generally focused more on psychedelic rock.but maybe is one of the most suitable albums as an introduction to the Australian sextet, because of the chosen genre and because we don’t have moments of saturation or hyperspeed (which we love), which makes these songs quite digestible at first listen.
as a detail, each initial letter of the seven songs on the album, when joined, spell the word “Changes”, the title of the album.
Seven congruent tracks on a very solid record
The King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard have a phenomenal criterion to be able to decide which tracks go on which albumand that is very noticeable in changes. Instead of releasing an album that brings a collage of sounds, or that transports us from one genre to another in each song, this gang is very clear that their albums must make sense within their own universe.
The difference is clear between this album and its predecessors laminated denim, a practically instrumental album, focused a lot on the guitars; and Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms And Lava, an album that we could even classify as conceptual, extremely percussive and much more oriented towards psychedelic rock.
For changeswe conclude that this R&B with psychedelic and space overtones suits the band very well and works in their discography like a deceleration with calm bridges, for example, in rolls like “Hate Dancin’” Y “No Body”.
Perhaps the most changeable in this LP are the motifs of the lyrics, ranging from personal reflection to the mysteries of the cosmos, but each letter works in the sound context that surrounds them. “Hate Dancin’” is a simple and fun song, “Exploding Suns” looks into space, and “Change” is the sample of the persistent idea on the album: change is the only sure thing.
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Source: Ofeminin
