Over the past 15 years King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard have, through an extensive discography and rigorous touring schedule, captivated a fanbase both on and off the live music scene. Their varied musical output and consistently great live show appeal to both the terminally-online RateYourMusic user and dedicated jam band fan alike. And they deserve their following: they regularly stream their high-energy shows for free on YouTube, and by sticking to their eccentricities have covered enough genres that almost anyone with a taste for some flavor of rock music will enjoy at least one of their albums. They’ve run the gamut from psych-pop to doom metal, more recently churning out a tasty slice of hard blues rock with 2024’s Flight b741.
Their latest schtick, if you will, is conducting a large orchestra to accompany them on Phantom Island, for which they will soon tour the United States (with local orchestras backing them at their show). The band’s strength has always been their maximalism: they are six guys who play a lot of instruments and churn out albums at the velocity of mixtape-era Gucci Mane. Now they’ve got a record with as many horn and string players as there are alligators on its cover (haters will say it’s photoshopped). Does an orchestra improve an already big sounding band?
Yes and no. With Phantom Island, King Gizz & Orchestra have produced a strong record whose songs are more musically dynamic than previous efforts. The barnyard boogie of Flight b741 has transmuted into a kaleidoscopic baroque pop record that is consistent from front-to-back. However, the change in approach means that Phantom Island, at least for certain fans, may lack the heavy rock sound present on other projects.
The title-track opens things on a high note. While Cookie sings of a “symphony of delusion”, the accompanying sound is an orchestra of clarity. Violins and trumpets join in a harmonious delight, before the track kicks into higher gear at about the three-and-a-half minute mark (I could see this translating to a fun live performance with or without orchestra). Later, “Panpsych” finds the band and orchestra playing fluidly with gentle rhythms, and the lyrics reflect a relentless optimism: “It’s coming down to the wire / This plane’s on fire… Crash land in the sand / We’ll do it hand in hand.”
“Spacesick” feels like a centerpiece, but it suffers lyrically. As a general rule I’m not into songs about nausea: admittedly, “Vomit Coffin” is not one of my favorite KGLW songs. The Love-esque track, with its soaring string section and tender melodies, is marred by lines like “the parasites are building a city on my intestines” (that last word pronounced here like tines of a fork). Thankfully, it is followed by the propulsive “Aerodynamic”, which features some gnarly guitar picking accompanied by lovely flutes. This leads to a string of tracks with lyrical themes of self-doubt and uncertainty, only to result in a kind of “love and light” (ala Phish) philosophy.
Cue “Sea of Doubt”: the narrator (Stu) feels a “landslide of anxiety”, but ultimately finds his way out with the help of friends and nature. “The lightness of the air lifts me / A breeze of serenity / We’re in the meadow of our minds, basking in its delight,” he concludes. Backed by instrumental swells and an uplifting beat, it’s all a bit too sweet, isn’t it? Here’s a band that can make searing metal jams about dragons and death, instead holding hands among the flowers. Still, I have to give the band credit for their ability to shapeshift.
Closer “Grow Wings and Fly” is, as of this writing, the only Phantom Island track that has been performed live. The legacy of this album, as with any by a jam band, may hinge on its ability to translate the tracks into a live setting. Given their recent shredding of central Europe, I have no doubt in the group’s ability to shine on their upcoming orchestra tour. For now, Phantom Island is a beautiful album that occasionally misses the mark lyrically. The album’s big sound and intense optimism offer a lot of brightness to take in. But anyone listening to a band called King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard should not expect subtlety.
