Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, KGLW Records/Bandcamp 2021.
Melbourne band King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard has been one of the most prolific releasers of music throughout the COVID-19 lockdowns that Melbourne has endured.
This year alone they have released two live albums, Live in Sydney 21 and Live in Melbourne 21 and this studio album, Butterfly 3000 plus another studio album titled L.W.
This comes on top of four albums released in 2020.
I receive a lot of music and I can’t think of another band that comes near this output.
Butterfly 3000 is quite a different album from anything that I’ve heard from them before.
Not that the band usually shun change, it seems that they are constantly shapeshifting.
This is an album that is built around overlying synth patterns that ebb and flow almost seamlessly from track to track.
The whole album is much more synthetic than their usual stuff and gives the feeling that it’s been built up in layers as each band member added their input.
The patterns developed in the first tracks reappear in part at various times throughout the album giving the work a feeling of unity; almost as if they were exploring a prog rock approach.
Butterfly 3000 is really an experimental album with the vocals becoming just another instrument.
Lyrics are delivered in such a way that what is being said is less important than how it is delivered.
It’s an album crammed with melodic and rhythmic inventiveness and loaded with hooks that really get their barbs in meaning that one listen is never enough.
Butterfly 3000 really does stand in contrast to the two live albums released this year.
It really is unlike anything that the band have done before and gives an indication of the confidence that they have in their abilities.
