When you have sixteen albums in your discography, three Grammys and records that shaped a generation of listeners, no one expects you to deliver something totally new. Your quality level will almost certainly drop. Luckily, The Flaming Lips, contrary to many other bands, do not go along this line. They don’t release albums just so they have it out there. They don’t enjoy the old-fame gained by magnificent albums such as The Soft Bulletin and Yoshimi Battles the Pink Records.
Oczy Mlody owes its name to the Polish translation of the novel Close to Home (Wayne Coyne found this novel while he was digging through second hand shops) and it is close to its glorious predecessors.
Parallel could be drawn not only to the fairytale-like style and dance psychedelic vibe that dominate the album, but also to the highest quality of the material. The same was the case with their previous, dark and distorted Embryonic. Remarkable lab of Coyne and company starts with a thunder. Atmospheric How?? resembles Evil, although less depressed version, but equally elegiac, cognitive and dystopian. Cynical verses Kill your rock’n’roll, motherfuckin hip-hop sound stand for themselves. Coyne’s boyish falsetto functions perfectly and is congruent with the nicely orchestrated arrangement.
The infantile dimension of his vocal is also great counterfeit the serious themes of the songs, such as freedom, childish dreams and utopian perspective of the world.
There Should Be Unicorns is a crazy combination of electronic and hippie psychedelic that reflects in frenetic interpretation. Lyrics are based on humor, but send a clear message of piece
And If the police show up
We will give them so much money
That they can retire from their shitty violent jobs
And live the greatest life they’ve ever lived
After these alarming tracks comes Sunrise (Eyes Of The Young), a camouflage of a love song that can also be perceived as ecological awareness project. Due to its powerful chorus and the pop character, Sunrise will stay in the collective memory as a synonym for this album. Not that the rest is not brilliant, it’s just that this might be the only totally positive tune.
Overall, the album radiates with skepticism and decadence. As the songs follow one another, the feeling becomes stronger, especially in the minimal trip horror track One Night While Hunting for Faeries and Witches and Wizards to Kill. Do Glowy shares the similar aura, while Listening To The Frogs With Demon Eyes brings frog sounds, retro synths and choir singing to the table. The great violin section in the song reminded me of MGMT, god bless them. It is definitely the most complex song here.
It is official - The creative flame of The Flaming Lips will never burn out.
