Last week, prolific psych-rockers King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard announced their 27th album Phantom Island and shared the title track. Unsurprisingly, they are nowhere near slowing down, sharing another new single today called “Deadstick.”
Immediately, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard are offering up a bigger, bolder, and brassier sound. Horns, horns, beautiful horns! It seems most of Phantom Island will embody this more intricate tone, made from the 10 tracks that didn't make the final cut during the Flight b741 sessions. British historical keyboardist, conductor, and arranger Chad Kelly helped flesh out the remaining tracks that needed more gestation.
“He brings this wealth of musical awareness to his chameleon-like arrangements," the group's Stu Mackenzie said of Kelly. “We come from such different worlds -– he plays Mozart and Bach and uses the same harpsichords they did, and tunes them the exact same way. But he's obsessed with microtonal music, too, and all this nerdy stuff like me."
The new single also comes with a wild video directed by Guy Tyzack, in which the band endures a plane crash. "'Deadstick' refers to when a plane propeller stops midflight so I decided to have a massive plane made out of cardboard crash land into a beautiful location," Tyzack explained. "The song is big and chaotic so then I went about casting swing dancers and eccentric extras to fill the landscape.” This aircraft accident is definitely more whimsical than dismal, featuring lots of dancing and an iconic shot of leisurely multi-tasking (smoking a cigarette while playing saxophone).
Watch the video for "Deadstick" below.
Phantom Island is 6/13 on p(doom) Records. Pre-order it here.
