The Flaming Lips have released their fourteenth studio album, Oczy Mlody, through Warner Bros. Records. Coincidentally, they're releasing it on frontman Wayne Coyne’s 56th birthday.
The LP contains 12 tracks spanning 57 minutes, and was produced by Dave Fridmann. Miley Cyrus appears as a special guest on “We a Famly.” The album’s title is Polish and when translated, means “eyes of the young.”
If you’re familiar with the music of The Flaming Lips, then you know they’re not your conventional “rock” band, and Oczy Mlody is certainly not an ordinary album. But that’s a good thing, cause ordinary is usually boring, right?
Beginning with the opening track, the music effortlessly guides the listener into a world of hypnotic sounds and warm melodies. Coyne’s vocals make their first appearance on the second track — “How??” — adding an extra layer of comfort to the sound.
In an interview with self-titled magazine, Wayne shared how the album was influenced by Syd Barrett and A$ap Rocky, and how the LP is centered around the theme of drugs and sleeping:
So yeah, I think, perhaps, it is only within The Flaming Lips world that these 2 (Syd and A$AP) could accidentally find themselves, like Dorothy stumbling upon the scarecrow as she wondered down the yellow brick road towards Oz (not sure which one is Dorothy and which one is the scarecrow in this scenario). But somehow they have gone through a hole in the night sky and arrived in a fucked up, day glow, fairy tale world in the future. A future where Oczy Mlody is the current cool powerful party drug of choice and sleeping is the ultimate cure for everything, sleeping for, like, 3 months. Yeah sleeping. So if you want to lose weight, ping!! You are put to sleep for 3 months and you wake up thin. If you are addicted to drugs, ping!! You sleep yourself out of withdrawals and cravings and wake up sober. Ha. And it all takes place inside a gated community that has been made into a replicant fantasy fairy tale city where the mega-mega rich folks live and have self indulgent psycho parties (maybe I’ve been spending too much time around Miley Cyrus) where everyone takes Oczy Mlody (the drug uses your own sub-conscious memories and transports you to your perfect childhood happy mind) and everyone has sex while riding unicorns. There are frogs and wizards and spiders and painful emotional therapy sessions where every primal desire is allowed and encouraged. Darkness in the dark while we listen with demon eyes on our way back home to our family. WTF.
You can hear the hip hop influence with the drum sounds and beat-heavy grooves. You can also hear The Flaming Lips' unique rock sound. This is a trippy record, but it's also comfortable — especially in contrast to their last album of original music, 2013's The Terror. There are a few moments of dissonance, but for the most part this is very harmonic.
Is Oczy Mlody the band’s most adventurous work, and does it rank with the band's best? We think it's up there, but only time will tell. One thing is for certain: The Flaming Lips are one of the most creative studio bands out there, and their live shows are always full of theatrical surprises.
Our favorite tracks are "How??," "There Should Be Unicorns," "Sunrise (Eyes Of The Young)," "Nigdy Nie," "The Castle," and "We A Famly."
Oczy Mlody is currently available on Amazon. Stream the album above for free, via Spotify.
The Flaming Lips have also announced 2017 North American tour dates in support of the upcoming LP. For more, check out The Flaming Lips Zumic artist page.
