King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Deadstick
Just when you thought King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard might take a breather, they’ve announced album number 27. Releasing a mere 1.8 albums per year since 2010 isn’t prolific enough for Australia’s most restless musical collective.
“Deadstick” is the latest single from their upcoming orchestral album Phantom Island, which will be released on June 13th via their own (p)doom records label. Unlike the typical Gizz offering, this track showcases a bolder, brassier sound, with horns taking centre stage in what the band describes as a “giddy jazz-rock riot.”
The genesis of “Phantom Island” traces back to a fateful meeting at the Hollywood Bowl in June 2023, where members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic convinced the band to explore orchestral collaboration. The album comprises ten tracks that didn’t quite fit on their Aria-nominated “Flight b741” release—songs that, according to frontman Stu Mackenzie, “were harder to finish” and “needed a little more time and space and thought.”
Rather than shelving these musical orphans, the band enlisted British historical keyboardist, conductor, and arranger Chad Kelly to flesh out the arrangements. “He brings this wealth of musical awareness to his chameleon-like arrangements,” Mackenzie explains. “We come from such different worlds—he plays Mozart and Bach and uses the same harpsichords they did, and tunes them the same way. But he’s obsessed with microtonal music, too, and all this nerdy stuff like me.”
The result is a track that blends jazzy horns with the band’s signature psych-rock foundations. Mackenzie’s distorted vocals contrast with the sophisticated instrumental arrangement, creating a tension that has become the band’s hallmark.
For a group that has dabbled in everything from garage rock to thrash metal to microtonal experiments to synth-pop, an orchestral album somehow feels both surprising and inevitable.
After 15 years and now approaching 27 albums, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard continue to find new ways to confound expectations.
