It’s not the strongest track on the album, but is playful in all the right ways. “He feels nothing that isn’t real, turn me on now, come grab the wheel” is a typical lyric here, and the song seems to be looking back on someone who was not who they appeared to be, and is actually as shallow as a puddle. “Not a Natural Man” is the penultimate track and has some lyrical connection with “The Pusher” but starts out altogether more playful with a snappier beat and keys. “If I were president of this land, I would declare war on the pusher man!” we are told as the track gets even more ambient and haunting despite earlier lyrical contrivance. It even goes so far as to call out the dealer and pushers for being monsters. It’s a strange, slight track, which might not be saying much, and is notable for being possibly the only out and out anti-drug song that The Flaming Lips have ever been involved with. “The wandering witches turn off the switches to the life that makes you smile” is a lyric that makes more sense in hindsight as we next head into “The Pusher” with a sudden erratic beat and distorted vocals about smoking weed, popping pills and never touching anything that the spirit could kill. We head into menacing bass lines accompanied by a piano and Troy’s vocals come in more smoky and laid-back now telling us “Whenever you search for pleasure you always find pain.” “Wandering Witches” comes next, emanating from the strings of the last epic track of spiritual disintegration. It is definitely an album high point both lyrically and musically. The instruments slow down and are scaled back to leave the lyrics almost pleading for help as our narrator loses themselves completely leaving behind strings and subtle guitars in its wake. Things take a turn with the lyrics becoming darker and wondering what the point is now that love is over. A story of the general chaos brought about by love and perhaps the whole cause of the early tracks where we are coming to terms with a fallout from some broken relationship as we are told “I loved you a thousand years ago.” It reaches a point of “Becoming one with the universe” and yet still has three minutes or so left to go. “Love Is a Mind Control” comes next and is more of a Flaming Lips-sounding track at the start before bringing in the familiar twang of Lindsey Troy’s vocals. Lyrically very very simple, and yet guaranteed a place in your head forever. We immediately launch into “Motherf*ckers Got to Go,” which seems to take all of the wonder of the last track, and then comes to a definitive conclusion with its hip-hop beats, handclaps and childish-like shouts in the background. “My highs are making me low” is something we are told as the choral chants make the track soar before coming back down with stuttering lyrics and effects, and it then ends on “Blam Blam Blam Blam Blam Blam!” snapping us out of the warm blanket-like effects of the song. “Hope Hell High” is the lead single from the album, and is almost country in its bleak outlook on a long journey and the costs paid along the way. “Yesterday was so simple, no brand name, just people” we are told, and informed there was an over-abundance of interested other parties in the breakdown at one point, before yearning for escape. “Sh*t Talkin” comes next, and is a simple, stripped-back story of some kind of relationship breakdown. “One Thousand Sisters with Aluminum Foil Calculators” is a moody instrumental commonplace from The Soft Bulletin and Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots which is there to simply unwind and link to the next track. Upon first listen it has imagery of dragons and some kind of quest, which is fairly typical for the Lips really, but upon subsequent listens it becomes a driving and empowering blast of triumph in the face of overwhelming odds, with its catchy beat and voice effects over the chorus. “Home Thru Hell” is already a track that has embedded itself in my brain since coming out as a single a while back. So after last year’s underrated return to more commercial form with King’s Mouth we now have a collaboration with Los Angeles-based bluesy rock duo Deap Vally-which has resulted in something they are calling Deap Lips, with a self-titled album.
In the last 10 years they have released a staggering 12 albums, including compilations and EPs. Never let it be said that The Flaming Lips do not work hard.
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