King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard: ‘Phantom Island’ Review

The album artwork for ‘Phantom Island’

It’s that time of the year again where I review a King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard album. Their 27th(!) album to be exact.

While recording last year’s venture into classic rock with Flight b741, the band managed to write a total of twenty songs. Ten of them ended up on that aforementioned album while the rest is what I’m going to be looking at today.

Frontman Stu Mackenzie felt that the remaining ten songs didn’t fit what Flight b741 had to offer so he enlisted conductor Chad Kelly to bring in an orchestra (yes you read that right) and help flesh out the songs further. And the result from that was Phantom Island.

The album opens up with the first single and my personal favourite off the whole record, the title track. We are greeted with piano before strings, horns and woodwinds slowly creep themselves in and a drum roll leads into a groove that recalls 70s funk and disco. Much like Flight b741, we get the band members taking turns doing vocals. In this song, Stu Mackenzie and bassist Cook Craig sing about wanting to escape to the titular island and leave their meaningless lives behind. The song stays in this funky vein before it abruptly transitions into some fast paced drumming and suspenseful orchestration where multi-instrumentalist Ambrose Kenny Smith goes off like a madman culminating in the refrain “Phantom island, insane asylum”. A pretty damn good tone setter for what is to come if I say so myself.

The intensity doesn’t stop with the rollicking Deadstick, which was the lead single. Easily the most high energy song on offer, groovy guitars and blaring horns ala Chicago make up the soundscape here as the lyrics focus on passengers fearing for their life as an unexpected crash landing is taking place. This one for me has a standout vocal performance from guitarist Joey Walker who hollers like it’s nobody’s business.

The album takes a hard left turn with Lonely Cosmos as it opens up with mysterious string arpeggios. From there the song alternates between yacht rock verses, uptempo choruses, dizzying orchestral passages and then all culminating in a psychedelic outro reminiscent of the band’s 2017 album Polygondwanaland. The song details the increasing passage of time as a result of being away from your loved ones for years and the toll it has on one’s mental state. Not the only time we get a more personal approach to lyrics on the album. All around, a highlight off the record for me.

With what sounds like a spaceship going into hyperspace, Eternal Return blossoms with lush strings and angelic vocals from Craig. That gets interrupted by a groovier verse with some uncharacteristically deep vocals from Stu. These two sections constantly fight for attention throughout with both Ambrose and Joey contributing bluesy vocals yet they manage to come together in their own strange way. Lyrically this one continues from the last song with the band members longing for the sweet embrace of their partners.

Panpsych is basically the first half of the title track but for a full song. Not one of the more memorable tunes here for me but the lyrics do stand out for injecting more psychedelic imagery to the album’s themes. The title stems from Panpsychism which refers to a philosophy that our human mind is fundamental in understanding reality as we know it. Lines like “Next stop, unknown to the primitive cockroach. We are omnipresent, intertwined horoscope” and “I am the wind at sea, I am that steering plane. Creeping in your higher mind, beaming in your astral plane” best showcase that philosophy but expressed in that good ol’ King Gizz way.

After a tense orchestral introduction, you’d be fooled into thinking Spacesick was a heavier track but it actually ends up being one of the album’s softer offerings. Using space travel as a metaphor for being out on the road touring, the lyrics read like a diary journal set to a dreamy mix of woodwinds and strings. I mean there is even a musical nod to Dear Prudence in there. You can’t go wrong with Beatles references.

Aerodynamic is a pleasant if somewhat unremarkable moment on the album for me. Lyrically it uses a sailor struggling at sea as a metaphor for the pressures of being a performer.

Sea of Doubt brings a more country flair while keeping the lush orchestration. The band’s 2015 album Paper Mache Dream Balloon is what pops to mind the most with this song, especially with its playful melodies and folksy acoustic guitar. The song also brings one of the more hopeful lyrics on the album, being about someone with anxiety who finds comfort through friendship.

Silent Spirit stands out for being one of the more adventurous songs on the album thanks to its melding of southern rock, psychedelic soul and middle eastern tinged prog complete with a long winded guitar solo. While on paper this would sound like a mess, it all miraculously works. That gets contrasted with the lyrics being about wanting to follow your dreams or expand your horizons but feeling restricted by what society expects of you.

The album then comes to a close with its final single and album highlight Grow Wings and Fly. This one is particularly noteworthy as it originally started as a live jam which grew (heh) off their song Shanghai from 2021’s Butterfly 3000. But then it eventually morphed into its own fully fledged composition and that’s what we get here. The orchestra is beautifully integrated and each vocalist brings their own unique flavour as they sing about wanting to experience the joy of living life to its fullest. The song eventually dies down after a transcendent solo section and the listener gets brought back down to earth after being taken on the emotional rollercoaster that is Phantom Island.

While on the whole I prefer their last album a bit more, Phantom Island is still another amazing addition to the band’s catalog. Not only does the orchestration fit in seamlessly to the old school sound Gizz is going for here but the more personal lyrics are refreshing for a band who are usually either conscious with their lyrics or wholly fantastical. As is expected from the band, they are already working on a new album. In the meantime however, we have these lovely tunes to sink our teeth into.