King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard
's third album found the band of psychedelic seekers in a typically exploratory mood. After the country & western diversion of
Eyes Like the Sky
, the group went back to making an unholy hash of its influences, eating them whole and then spitting them back out in what was quickly becoming trademark fashion. "Head On/Pill" kicks the record off like it was kicked off a cliff; it spirals on and on with whirling shards of guitars, pumped-up rhythms, and yelped vocals. It lasts for 16 minutes, but not a single second of that time is dull. After that blow to the solar plexus, the album stays weird. "I'm Not a Man Unless I Have a Woman" is loping funk-blues with vocals fed through a busted echo pedal, "30 Past 7" takes an excursion into inner space soundtracked by sitars and banjos, "Let Me Mend the Past" is a rollicking soul ballad with some seriously pleading vocals, and the title track is sumptuous dream pop that closes the album on a blissful note of peaceful psych. The album sounds like a band searching for its footing as its members try any and every style that comes to mind. The results would probably be a complete mess in the hands of most groups, but anything seems possible -- if now somehow preordained -- in the capable mitts of this crazed collective. They would get better quickly, but even baby
Gizzard
is effortlessly cool and definitely worth digging into. ~ Tim Sendra