You could be forgiven for thinking The Flaming Lips had finally lost it completely. This is a band that, with 2001’s ‘Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots’, pretty much perfected pure pop music as an artistic format, but ever since they seem to have lost their way. Diversions back into the psychedelic experimentation of their early years have come across as too placid and unfocused to be consistently rewarding, whereas collaborative efforts like the ‘Heady Fwends’ record last year have mostly ended up on the wrong side of the brilliant/goddamn awful line.
As such, it is quite understandable if you decide that ‘The Terror’ is not worth anticipating, is not worth banking on or holding our hope for. In reality however, to ignore ‘The Terror’, would be fundamentally wrong. Not only is this the finest record the Oklahoma crazy gang have come up with in twelve years. It is also one of the finest records of their entire three decade plus career.
As with all their best material to date, ‘The Terror’ has something decidedly obtuse about it. There is more going on here than greets the ears on first listen. Much like ‘The Soft Bulletin’ and ‘Yoshimi...’ were far more than the pop records they were pretending to be, ‘The Terror’ is far more than the distant post-‘Kid A’ dystopian art rock it wants you to think it is. Fear has been the driving force in creating this album, according to head lunatic Wayne Coyne himself, but one senses that the building up of this album’s darkness is one of The Flaming Lips never ending series of publicity stunts than anything else. ‘The Terror’ wants you to think that it is inaccessible and difficult just like ‘Yoshimi...’ wanted you to think that it was cheerful and hooky.
In reality less separates the two alternate sides of The Flaming Lips than most realise. ‘The Terror’ may focus more obviously on sonic landscaping and, at times brutal, stark emotional visions but the songs are still there. ‘Be Free, A Way’ and ‘Turning Violent’ are just as much pop tunes as they are anything else, the route they take to get to that point is just slightly different. Rather than spelling everything out with prominent basslines or acoustic guitars there are splintered blasts of electronics and inconsistent undulating rhythms, but that doesn’t mean that when Wayne layers his idiosyncratic vocals on top that you cannot be compelled to sing along or lose yourself in the eccentric joy of it all.
Yes, somehow, ‘The Terror’ is indeed joyous. There may be a dehumanised obliqueness to much of the musical terrain covered, and indeed a dissatisfied bent to some of the lyrical content, but by the time ‘Always There…in Our Hearts’ draws to its pulverising conclusion you would be hard pressed to walk away without the feeling that you have experienced something that has made your life more rewarding. If that isn’t cause for celebration then what is? This is what The Flaming Lips have always done at their very best and, believe me, this is them at their very best.
‘The Terror’ is out on 1st April via Bella Union. The Flaming Lips play two shows at London’s The Roundhouse on May 20th and 21st.
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As such, it is quite understandable if you decide that ‘The Terror’ is not worth anticipating, is not worth banking on or holding our hope for. In reality however, to ignore ‘The Terror’, would be fundamentally wrong. Not only is this the finest record the Oklahoma crazy gang have come up with in twelve years. It is also one of the finest records of their entire three decade plus career.
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