Album: The Terror
Artist: The Flaming Lips
Genre: Ambient Pop
7.2/10
The Flaming Lips used to be fun. Whatever happened to the wackiness and quirkiness of "The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song"? Now we have song titles like "You Are Alone" and "Turning Violent". The latest release from neo-psychadelic pop/rock outfit The Flaming Lips combines harsh yet quiet synths, minimal drums, and more than enough spaciousness, as well as Wayne Coyne's soft and sad crooning.
It's hard to go at this album track by track because it really has a uniform sound. The tones and textures on each of these tracks are remarkably similar, which seems to be a common quality with ambient music. This album lives in a sort of limbo however, as it combines aspects of ambient with aspects of a much more accessible genre, pop. Wayne employs harmony and clear melodies against a backdrop of minimal and dark synths on each of the tracks. Live drums are hard to find, coming in only on the opening and closing tracks, and to be honest the presence is sort of missed. The songs have a definite hollow and bleak quality, which is the aesthetic they were going for, but certain songs fail to establish these qualities strongly. The three-song run of "Try to Explain", "You Lust", and "The Terror" boast near-identical instrumentation and musical qualities, with subtle changes added to establish diversity. Most instrumentation is brought down in the mix, allowing Wayne to come through a bit too clearly to really establish that hollow atmosphere.
The album shines where they successfully blend the best ambient qualities and the best pop qualities. Opener "Look...The Sun is Rising" boasts echoic drums, tape loops, sharp guitars, and brooding synths. Closer "Always There... In Our Hearts" also features drum parts once again, allowing a sort of groundwork to build textures off of.
I found myself listening to this record intensely. There is more going on that one would hear initially. It really demands one's undivided attention to really be appreciated. The problem this album has is that it sometimes has problems justifying the droning aspects. It's too spacious to really be pop, but too busy to be drone or ambient. Certain parts blend them perfectly, while others struggle to stay fresh and interesting. It's worth a listen, however, and I respect the vision of this band. 7.2 terrors out of 10.
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