Artist: The Flaming Lips
Album: Embryonic
Year: 2009
Grade: 5 pretzels
People often forget that the Flaming Lips have been around since the 80s. After 1999’s masterful The Soft Bulletin won over ranks of new fans, Oklahoma’s favorite band have ventured through this past decade with albums defined by bright melodies, playful whimsy and poppy catchiness. However, long before all that, the Lips were a truly psychedelic band, prone to warped musical experiments and sonic nonsense. Embryonic returns the Lips to those wild, untamed musical grounds for the first time in over a decade, while still keeping one foot planted solidly in the songwriting and craftsmanship that’s catapulted them to recent fame.
Embryonic is nothing if not a noisy album. Its eighteen songs sigh and breathe with all kinds of static, distortion and indefinable squelchy noises. It’s a murky album, with songs every once and while rising through the waves of chaotic strangeness ebbing back and forth. Some, like “See The Leaves”, roar with power and heavy bass, demanding your immediate attention. Others, like the soft “Evil”, simply float by, drifting along and waiting for someone to take notice. Amazingly, virtually every song, whether it’s loud or soft, immediate or subtle, contributes something powerful to the overall album experience.
The Flaming Lips have also done an exquisite job arranging this album, balancing long and short tracks in a way that pulls the listener through the entire seventy minute experience without becoming boring or losing momentum. Tension-filled tracks like “Powerless” are given the space to stretch and develop, while short sketches of songs like “If” and the wistful “I Can Be A Frog” barely exceed two minutes. None of the songs feel like they overstay their welcome. For a psychedelic rock album, that’s truly a monumental accomplishment.
The album also builds toward a truly jaw-dropping conclusion, with addictive, powerfully beat-driven tracks like “Silver Trembling Hands” leading to the stunning concluding song, “Watching The Planets”. Featuring a huge, crunching bassline and Wayne Coyne’s strained voice at its finest, it’s one of the best Lips songs of the decade and a killer album closer. It’s the proverbial cherry on the cake in terms of this album, which is without doubt the boldest thing the Flaming Lips have recorded since the 90s. Yet, it’s still accessible and enjoyable, with plenty of traditionally structured songs to keep you entertained if you’re not psychedelically minded. I really feel there needs to be more music like this in the world. The Flaming Lips have done the world a great service with Embryonic.
Embryonic is nothing if not a noisy album. Its eighteen songs sigh and breathe with all kinds of static, distortion and indefinable squelchy noises. It’s a murky album, with songs every once and while rising through the waves of chaotic strangeness ebbing back and forth. Some, like “See The Leaves”, roar with power and heavy bass, demanding your immediate attention. Others, like the soft “Evil”, simply float by, drifting along and waiting for someone to take notice. Amazingly, virtually every song, whether it’s loud or soft, immediate or subtle, contributes something powerful to the overall album experience.
The Flaming Lips have also done an exquisite job arranging this album, balancing long and short tracks in a way that pulls the listener through the entire seventy minute experience without becoming boring or losing momentum. Tension-filled tracks like “Powerless” are given the space to stretch and develop, while short sketches of songs like “If” and the wistful “I Can Be A Frog” barely exceed two minutes. None of the songs feel like they overstay their welcome. For a psychedelic rock album, that’s truly a monumental accomplishment.
The album also builds toward a truly jaw-dropping conclusion, with addictive, powerfully beat-driven tracks like “Silver Trembling Hands” leading to the stunning concluding song, “Watching The Planets”. Featuring a huge, crunching bassline and Wayne Coyne’s strained voice at its finest, it’s one of the best Lips songs of the decade and a killer album closer. It’s the proverbial cherry on the cake in terms of this album, which is without doubt the boldest thing the Flaming Lips have recorded since the 90s. Yet, it’s still accessible and enjoyable, with plenty of traditionally structured songs to keep you entertained if you’re not psychedelically minded. I really feel there needs to be more music like this in the world. The Flaming Lips have done the world a great service with Embryonic.
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