The members of King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard showcase their fanciest footwork within the video for his or her new track “Hate Dancin’,” the lead single from their third album of this month, Modifications, which arrives Oct. 28.
Filmed, edited and directed by John Angus Stewart in 2020 on the band’s Australian headquarters, the clip is the primary style of Modifications, the genial, methodically composed, soul- and jazz-tinged follow-up to 2 consecutive jam-based albums, Ice, Dying, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava and Laminated Denim. As he dips into the occasional falsetto, frontman Stu Mackenzie vacillates between retreating from the proverbial dance ground to ultimately embracing its delights: “Simply jokin’ / I find it irresistible / I used to be simply kidding / I find it irresistible.”
Every of the seven songs on Modifications are constructed across the identical chord development, an idea pretty widespread in jazz however uncommon on this planet of rock’n’roll. This block of music dates way back to 2017 and represents the longest King Gizzard has ever labored on a challenge earlier than really releasing it.
“When Stu began to fiddle with these concepts, he was nonetheless making an attempt to wrap his head round them, not to mention us,” group member Joey Walker tells SPIN. “We booked some studio time to report the songs, which have been probably going to be the fifth of the five-album yr in 2017, but it surely simply wasn’t fairly there for numerous causes — perhaps our technical means or means to know when to cease or when it was achieved. I simply don’t suppose we have been fairly prepared. They have been placed on the back-burner for a very long time, till naturally Stu picked them up once more. Through the pandemic, we crammed out the album a bit extra and did some recording. This yr, we completed it out on the street with some overdubs once we have been in Europe. It’s an fascinating one, as a result of each time I take into consideration taking part in it, actually my mind hurts. Simply to re-enter these songs, getting into chilly, it’s actually exhausting. Not being as assured at that stage of idea, you actually must be all in.”
“It’s nearly the other of what we’ve been doing with Ice, Dying…” group member Lucas Harwood provides. “With that, every track is one key, and it’s closely improvised. I’ve been loving taking part in these songs stay, since you get into this zone the place you don’t really must suppose that a lot. You possibly can simply form of really feel it and vibe off of one another. With these Modifications songs, you need to focus actually exhausting (laughs).”
Requested if this melodic constraint might have resulted in music that was, say, thrash-y or folk-y, Walker solutions with a chuckle, “undoubtedly not.” Says Harwood, “It undoubtedly goes completely different locations, however to me, it appears like pop with jazz idea. None of those songs are actually quick both, apart from perhaps ‘Gondhi,’ and I discover that simpler, as a result of you may have extra time to consider the subsequent be aware (laughs). It’s actually cool that this report is being launched subsequent to Ice, Dying… and Laminated Denim, as a result of it’s nearly the antithesis. It’s actually structured and constructed. I believe the followers are actually going to love that as a distinction to those different actually jammy data, that are nice in their very own proper and really enjoyable to play stay.”
Past immediately’s new video, Gizzard can also be teasing a separate brief movie, Sleeping Monster, with extra data coming Wednesday (Oct. 19). The group will play its greatest North American headlining present thus far on Friday at Forest Hills Tennis Stadium in Queens, N.Y. and can wrap this leg of touring with the third of three “marathon three-hour units” on Nov. 2 at Purple Rocks outdoors Denver. All three can be found for delayed streaming by Nugs.
