The Flaming Lips- Peace Sword (2013)

The Flaming Lips- Peace Sword (2013)

At this precise moment I just don’t know what to think of the Flaming Lips, they have realized tons recordings, some of them simply brilliant and some of them falling into de mediocre category, the amount is such that sometimes is difficult to find the gold between so much filler, or should I say hay? Peace Sword (Open Your Heart), the opening theme form their new Ep simply sounds promising, is definitely a big leap backwards, but not in a diminishing way, no, it recaptures some of the innocence and grandiose at the same time of the old days, when the band was still a part of the amazing American underground of the 80s.

Peace Sword is kind of a “musical snack” not exactly a full meal, but it show great promise, at least in the opening song, with its enormous vibrating keyboards applied massively as a background creating a kind of odd resounding atmosphere, you know? The Christmas in Mars all over again, but this time is a musical thing, there is that hard Spectoresque rhythm on the drums, the chiming bells and that extraterrestrial aura that the Flaming know so well to add to their sound when they are truly inspired, and in that matter Peace Sword succeeds although modestly, but hey! To be modest was once a great asset on the Lips arsenal.   

Noise crawls menacingly on If They Move, Shoot Em, such eerie ambience certainly revitalizes the Lips, reaffirms their underground roots and it will certainly scare some of their occasional fans who will not find anything so sugary on these recordings, but really experimental lo fi cosmic music, the drum rolls perfectly on the theme and Coyne vocals sounds as maniacal as ever, hidden behind the massive layers of sound the rest of the band produce, Peace Sword may be an Ep, but is a decent one, a sincere experiment without commercial concessions and that is without a doubt a heavy proposal musically.  

Calm arrives on Is The Black at The End Good sounds great thanks to the sensible vocal rendition by Coyne, that obviously reminds us of a time when Coyne was a very damaged human, a punk on acid, as he described their early years, the song is certainly a nostalgia trip, something that may not affect us sonically, but emotionally it is meant to cause us havoc with such great expressive keyboard work, which obviously is augmented dramatically thanks to the big entrance of the drums and bass, giving the theme additional strength an passion, my only small complaint here, would be the length of the theme, but nothing to really dismay for.

Thick layers of synthesizer hit us at the beginning of Think Like a Machine, Not a Boy, although they are quickly mutated into the solitary vocals of Coyne, sort of that feeling of solitude transmitted to us on Cuaron Gravity, if Peace Sword serves as a companion to a movie, it certainly would be a perfect companion to Cuaron masterpiece, that cosmic solitude, that immense vastness of cold and dark space perfectly captured by the contrast of the glimmering synthesizers and Coyne ultra dark reflections.

The Flamings let Wolf Children breathe in a particular way, a gravity zero lethargic funk-soul theme, perhaps the loosest song on the Ep, although it suddenly chance into a more conventional rhythm, capturing part of that cosmic blues the Flaming brought us on The Soft Bulletin, but without the glimmer of pop, and then, we have Assassin Beetle- The Dream Is Ending with its massive drums and their out of the earth eternal loops, it’s a deep and heavy sort of ambient music taken to a weird extreme, certainly the Lips make it bizarre by including those menacing drums, a theme that is obscure and haunting as outer space, a perfect way to end such a disturbing record (at least for pop listeners)

Peace Swords find the Lips in a very contemplative way, of course, their vision will always be a weird one, a disturbing psychedelic nightmare on space, as every good Ep, it leaves us hoping for more and at the same time, calms our fears towards the direction of the last recordings of the band, the lips head seems pointed at the right direction, is just a matter of cutting back on so many distractions, like gadgets, visuals, souvenirs and the lot, and concentrating on music, the darkness of it and the greatness of it.