King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard‘s orchestral era is now upon us. The shapeshifting Aussie psych rockers enlisted the aid of orchestral instrumentation for their 27th studio album “Phantom Island“, which is due out on June 13th via their own (P)doom Records. Conductor/keyboardist, etc. Chad Kelly was tapped to help flesh out this effort, with the band’s own Stu Mackenzie commenting:
“He brings this wealth of musical awareness to his chameleon-like arrangements. 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.”
Songs found on this record largely stem from the writing sessions for the band’s previous album, “Flight B741“. Newly following up the title track is the below video for the song “Deadstick“, which was directed by Guy Tyzack. Addressing his vision for this clip, Tyzack shared:
“‘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. The song is big and chaotic so then I went about casting swing dancers and eccentric extras to fill the landscape.”
“Phantom Island” track listing:
01 – “Phantom Island”
02 – “Deadstick”
03 – “Lonely Cosmos”
04 – “Eternal Return”
05 – “Panpsych”
06 – “Spacesick”
07 – “Aerodynamic”
08 – “Sea Of Doubt”
09 – “Silent Spirit”
10 – “Grow Wings And Fly”
Pre-orders can be found through pdoomrecords.com. Ambitious touring plans in support of the effort have already come to light, including the group’s own ‘Field Of Vision‘ festival set to take over Meadow Creek in Buena Vista, CO from August 15th to 17th. Other stops will find the band pairing up with local symphonies or branching off into their previously road-tested ‘rave’ format. There’s also a few traditional rock sets planned as well.
With Etran de L’Aïr:
05/18-20 Lisbon, POR – Coliseu Dos Recreios
05/23-25 Barcenlona, SPA – Poble Espanyol
With King Stingray:
05/29-31 Vilnius, LIT – Puliskes Prison 2.0
With King Stingray & DJ Crewnshaw:
06/04-06 Athens, GRE – Lycabettus Theatre
With King Stringray:
06/08-10 Plovdiv, BUL – Ancient Theatre
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard:
06/13-15 Manchester, TN – Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival (3 sets)
With DJ Crenshaw:
07/28 Philadelphia, PA – TD Pavilion at the Mann (feat. The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia)
07/30 New Haven, CT – Westville Music Bowl (feat. Orchestra of St. Luke’s)
08/01 Forest Hills, NY – Forest Hills Stadium (feat. Orchestra of St. Luke’s)
08/02 Forest Hills, NY – Forest Hills Stadium
08/04 Columbia, MD – Merriweather Post Pavilion (feat. National Symphony Orchestra)
08/06 Highland Park, IL – Ravinia Festival (feat. Chicago Philharmonic)
08/08 Colorado Springs, CO – Ford Amphitheater (feat. Colorado Symphony)
08/10 Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Bowl (feat. Hollywood Bowl Orchestra)
08/11 San Diego, CA – The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park (feat. San Diego Symphony Orchestra)
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard:
08/15-17 Buena Vista, CO – Field Of Vision
10/31 Manchester, UK – Aviva Studios (rave set)
11/01-02 London, UK – Electric Brixton (rave set)
11/04 London, UK – Royal Albert Hall (feat. Covent Garden Sinfonia)
11/05 Paris, FRA – La Seine Musicale (feat. L’Orchestre Lamoureux)
11/06 Tilburg, NET – 013 (rave set)
11/07 Den Bosch, NET – MAINSTAGE (feat. Sinfonia Rotterdam)
11/09 Gdansk, POL – Inside Seaside Festival (feat. the Baltic Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra)
11/10 Berlin, GER – Columbiahalle (rave set)
11/11 Prague, CZE – SaSaZu (rave set)
11/12 Vienna, AUT – Gasometer (rave set)
11/14 Copenhagen, DEN – Poolen (rave set)
11/15 Gothenburg, SWE – Gothenburg Film Studios (rave set)
