It was bound to happen. With fame, fortune and more credibility than Gus Van Sant, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard have released a deeply psychedelic, richly toned, and somewhat indulgent album.
Quarters consists offour ten minute and ten second long songs – The River, Infinite Rise, God Is In The Rhythm and Lonely Steel Sheet Flyer.
The first quarter, The River,starts off sounding like six cats jamming at a jazz bar before it lolls into something reminiscent of the music produced by the music elite of the ’60s. At 2:53 the song descends down the rabbit hole – this is heralded by the taunt, empty sounds of a guitar headstock being picked, after this, the rest of band locks back into the rhythm that is overlaid by a guitar solo that would sit succinctly on a record from The Doors.
Infinite Rise begins as though the song was written in a dream sequence – slightly distorted vocals bouncing along with a sweetly contouring melody. The song builds sonically over its duration with the crescendo / outro driven by Ambrose Kenny-Smith’s harmonica.
God Is In The Rhythm is the most explicit pop song on the album, with undeniable comparisons to MGMT’s Someone’s Missing from their sophomore major label release Flash Delirium (2010). About a quarter of the way through the track, there is delightful guitar solo that elicits an image of a Tiki beach sunset.
The final quarter is called Lonely Steel Sheet Flyer. This song has all the hallmarks of an epic conclusion to a solid album. Probably the beefiest song on the record, Lonely Steel Sheet Flyer takes elements from the other three songs while adding an extra layer of psych.
As mooted in the opening sentence, this album is indulgent, but have King Gizzard ever pretended to be anything else? If you’re willing to trust them, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard are a band like no other, who will take you on a musical journey like no other.
