The Flaming Lips “At War with the Mystics”
Warner Brothers Records
Back before the career-making opus that was “The Soft Bulletin,” The Flaming Lips were kind of a gimmick band. As if the name wasn’t a dead giveaway, the Lips’ pre-1999 material was more concerned with silliness than crafting songs. The band’s primary interest was in sonic forays like the four-disc “Zaireeka,” an album based on the premise of the listener playing all of the CDs on four different stereos simultaneously. The Lips’ latest work, then, is somewhat of a return to form. Eschewing the moderately successful attempts at traditional songwriting that characterized 2002’s “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots,” “At War with the Mystics” is loud, experimental and, above all, as much fun as the Flaming Lips have ever been.
Not that hyperactive singer Wayne Coyne needed the extra jolt, but the Lips cranked up the volume on this album: “The W.A.N.D.,” “Free Radicals” and “It Overtakes Me” (on which Coyne says “You could turn it up even a little bit more”) are all riff monsters, attention focused squarely on electric guitars and overdriven amps. On the smoother side, “My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion” is all sweet “Soft Bulletin” synthetic strings and oscillating effects before a distorted guitar takes the lead. The reliance on superfluous sound effects harms “Free Radicals” and “Haven’t Got a Clue” on repeated listens, but for the most part, the songs are complex, diverse and consistently rocking.
One of the major strengths of “The Soft Bulletin” was the merging of Coyne’s nonsensicalness with the moral platitudes that went on to overwhelm “Yoshimi.” Here, Coyne isn’t above generalizing and name-calling (“You think you’re so radical / you’re fanatical!”) but it’s only semiserious, and many of the songs are personal rather than judgmental. “Mr. Ambulance Driver,” written for Coyne’s deceased mother, is a simple, gentle expression of sorrow and resignation delivered with the Lips’ characteristic bounce. “Though I live, somehow I’ve found / Mr. Ambulance Driver, I’m not a real survivor / I’m wishing that I was the one that wasn’t going to be here anymore,” Coyne sings, and though the words register, the buoyancy of the music makes it hopeful all the same.
While The Flaming Lips will probably never equal the unique synergy of “The Soft Bulletin,” just hearing them make the attempt again is pretty inspiring. It’s a tribute to the band that, after two decades in the trenches, they have as much drive as ever, and – unlike most groups their age – the music to match. E-mail Greenwald at greenwald@media.ucla.edu
advertise
contact us
top of page