King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard -- L.W.: Review (?)

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard -- L.W.

[Flightless]

This time I decided to do something a little different and use this new King Gizz record as an opportunity to write about the band and it's place it my history of musical obsessions.

“Life Rafts”

For almost two entire months of my Junior year of High School, I listened to Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon in full two times a day. My commute to school back and forth was almost a 45-minute car ride back and forth—the exact same runtime as the album. So, all I had to do was drag myself out of bed, get in my ride, pop in headphones, press play, and in an instant I would be at school.

I was deeply in love with this record. Not just the music itself, but the psychedelic concept of it. The descriptions on the Wikipedia page of the intensive production techniques used and its ambitious concept hooked me. So as I re-listened to the record over and over, I was reaffirming the things about it I loved. I was like an obsessive film critic, in love with the reliving of the experience, picking up new hidden details with each listen.

I was also a very annoying kid in High School, pestering each of my friends about my interests until their ears bled. Since I was living, eating, and breathing Pink Floyd at the time, it comprised about 70% of everything I said. I wanted to share every detail about the album to anyone who would—or would pretend to—listen to me.

But like every other kid with a favorite toy, I eventually moved on to a new one. I latched onto Rush, then Radiohead, then The Who, and every other pretentious dad rock band you could imagine. Then following high school, I started listening to music outside of what middle-aged WASPs considered high art. It was then I discovered my love of all kinds of music, obsessing over artists like Miles Davis and Aphex Twin and people outside of my normal listening rotation. In Sophomore year I discovered Tame Impala which helped me shed a bit of my musical pretensions by being essentially dad rock for a new generation under the guise of pop music.

In 2020 is where I reached my chapter with King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, which was a band perfect for me obsess over. With 15 albums, a ton of live records, a kooky cast of band members, high energy garage rock, and the youthful creativity of high school DnD nerd on LSD, King Gizzard had everything I wanted in a band. My COVID lockdown conveniently gave me a great deal of time to obsess over each of their albums.

Looking back on these obsessions retrospectively, I see myself like any other nerd as kid wanting some kind of favorite media or hobby to hold as an identity. Having a band or album or movie or something is like a life raft of identity that I could have as something to represent me. And in those points of limbo in between obsessions, I would actively search for something to fill that void.

I’m aware this isn’t just me experiencing this. So many nerds out there have done the same thing and feel that same emptiness when some external obsession fills their mind. Past the nerds, millions of people use their profession for the same purpose. It’s normal for a farmer, a lawyer, a doctor, or a teacher to attach their profession to their identity.

But lately, I’ve felt myself moving past this need. I’m growing in confidence enough to not need something to shield myself from people. It’s partly because, no media can truly represent myself in a whole better than me. Sure, I still have my movies and records I hold close to my identity, but I’m not pestering my friends about it anymore. The life rafts aren’t necessary if I learn to swim.

So where is King Gizzard in all of this? When my fixation on the band naturally came to close towards the end of the long summer of 2020, I struggled trying to fill the void. And instead of scramble for something new, I still felt whole. The void was there but less so, enough to ignore.

Up until this new record I haven’t listened to the band as much. I haven’t stopped completely, it just isn’t at the obsessive level it was before. And it’s not because I don’t like them anymore but because I don’t feel that need filled. My chapter with King Gizzard might be over, and I’m happy to move forward.

7.7/10.

Listen To: “If Not Now, Then When?”, “O.N.E.”