FLAMING LIPS
The rich symphonic tapestry of synthesizers and piano lends majestic sparkle to “Sunrise (Eyes of the Young),” which inspires, in Coyne’s own words, “dancing and tripping in the echoes of dawn,” and is at once “part somber and sad and part childlike, ethereal fantasy.”
“One Night While Wizard Hunting,” with its dramatic kettle drums, wood percussion and chirping, rumbling synth effects, which segues smoothly into the equally disturbing “Go Glowy,” with its variety of sonic colors, could easily serve as the lengthy soundtrack to a nocturnal journey through an alien world’s unexplored and dangerous jungles. “Listening to the Frogs with Demon Eyes” continues in that same mesmerizing vein, but heightens the otherworldly suspense to fever-dream levels.
“The Castle,” with its more conventional beat and melody structure, like other tracks hereon, still seems to be emanating from some ballroom in the outer reaches of the cosmos, but is danceable enough to serve as a candidate for a single release — if any existing radio station would dare play it. (Maybe somewhere on satellite radio, one could hope.) Same goes for the effervescent, rocket-cruising “Almost Home” and the wistful, pulse-quickening aural light show of a ballad that closes the proceedings, “We a Family,” featuring a vocal guest-shot from Coyne’s unlikely collaborator and friend in freakiness, Miley Cyrus.
BANDING TOGETHER
Prompted to compare “Oczy Mlody” to the Lips’ last few efforts, Coyne says, “I don’t think we heard the previous records and thought, ‘Oh, let’s do something different.’ I think you go and you get some direction. For us, it never feels that radically different. For me, I love the way Steven creates melodies and moods and his chord structures and all that. I think he loves the way I write, my quirky way of writing and singing, and all that.
“Yet sometimes it has just a different vibe about it, with our different productions that we do.”
The new musical direction also could have something to do with the changes in the Lips’ personnel lineup. The original nucleus of Coyne, Drozd and bassist Michael Ivins now is supported by multi-instrumentalists Derek Brown (who’s been around for a couple of albums) and Jake Ingalls.
And since the stormy departure of drummer Kliph Scurlock, the green-wigged duo of Matt Duckworth and Nicholas Ley — aka the Brothers Griiin — now supplies the band’s heartbeat — Duckworth being a member of Lips proteges Stardeath and White Dwarfs, and Ley, the drummer for Colourmusic, a Stillwaterborn band also handled by Lips manager Scott Booker.
“When we had to play our first shows without Kliph, I think part of us was ready for a change,” Coyne said. “A lot of things we were doing with him were kind of ... a rock thing. And when he left, I think it opened up for it to be a little bit more poppy. We would start to do songs like more stuff off ‘Yoshimi,’ and even doing ‘The Soft Bulletin,’ revisiting that with the orchestra over the summer. When Kliph was in the group it just felt like a more aggressive thing, and I think when he left, the new guys, Matt and Nic, just didn’t have that vibe about them and I think we were very glad to be able to say, ‘Oh, these songs can be very soft and mellow.’
“And Matt Duckworth and Nicholas Ley, they’re very much about not just drumming. It’s electronic drums, it’s computers, it’s everything we use to make our records with. They are good (on stage) at reproducing all of that as well. It’s not just a drummer playing a drum kit.”
MELLOW OUT
The overall result, Coyne thinks, is that the “new record is mellow compared to some of our records. It’s not all that mellow but it’s a nice, easy, midtempo listen.”
The other half of the Lips phenomenon is its live show, of course, which many a local fan witnessed at The Criterion last month. For those who haven’t experienced the seemingly acidfueled spectacle of multicolored lights and smoke and confettiblizzard dazzle that is the Lips on stage, be sure to buy a ticket to their live thrill-ride when their show rolls back into their hometown again.
Meanwhile, turn off your mind, relax and float down the “Oczy Mlody” stream. It’s a musical cruise worth taking, and band captain Coyne handles the keel like the seasoned cerebral seaman that he usually is. Having turned 57 on Jan. 13, he’s become one of the most gifted old salts still navigating the uncharted alternative tributaries of the neo-psychedelic sea.