Genres: Alternative Rock, Psychedelic-rock, Dream Pop
This is not a 'fun' record but it is a good one. The themes of the album are loneliness, desolation and futility.The band finds ways to push what are essentially pop-songs outward into a kind of lonely hypnotic ambiance. There is a lot of silence used with sudden punctuated melodies. The music only gets noisy in a few places with some scratchy guitar work. Dark and off-kilter, I treasured the little trip this album took me on. It was not fun but it was thrilling.
I have never heard the Flaming Lips be anything but weird and exuberantly happy on a record which makes this album a bit of a shock. The music takes a while to get under your skin but it rewards repeated listens. The opener 'Look...the Sun is Rising' sets the stage, sounding free but very lost and alone. 'Be Free, A Way' sound further down the spiral or further out in the desert. The sighing vocals push this song along as a tape pulse wavers too far in the background to give any rhythm, it more sounds like a constant wobble. The wobbling is present in the next song 'Try to Explain' and serves much of the same purpose but the chorus is bigger and twinkles a bit. This song too ends in sighing loneliness. 'You Lust' sounds kind of late-night and is quite creepy. 'Butterfly, How Long it Takes to Die' has a lingering weirdness that makes it another stand-out.
Overall, the album is cohesive in its mood. The vocals sore out of the hypnotic music but always seem to sigh back into them just as quickly. This was a very rewarding listen.
RATING: 4/5 STARS
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