After 30 plus years in the indie music scene, The Flaming Lips aren’t getting any more normal. The act released their seventeenth studio album in late January—this time more bizarre and yet much more subdued than its antecedent, The Terror. Littered with fuzzy synth and programmed drum beats, The Flaming Lips took on a glitchy synthpop sound, and subsequently, created a topic of debate for their longtime fans. It’s a slow grow to the album’s peak, and even then, it seldom departs its woozy soundscape. The album—a rock opera, of sorts—tells a loose story of a psychedelic journey featuring unicorns, frogs, and castles. Much of their recent evolution, both musical and conceptual, is attributed to Miley Cyrus, the band’s muse and the album’s featured artist. Oczy Mlody includes “We a Famly,” a spacey duet between Cyrus and frontman Wayne Coyne as well as “Sunshine (Eyes of the Young),” which borrows a melody from Cyrus’ Dead Petz project.
Recommended If You Like: Of Montreal, Ta-ku, Washed Out
Recommended Tracks: 10 (The Castle)
Do Not Play: 2 (How??), 3 (There Should Be Unicorns), 4 (Sunrise (Eyes of the Young))
Written by Madeline Connor on 02/08/2017
