Just one month after its existence was prematurely leaked online, Melbourne collective King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard have officially proved they’re basically showing off now, announcing the release of their 17th studio album, L.W..
Officially announced today, L.W. serves as the follow-up to last year’s K.G., which in turn brought with it the return of the group’s experimentation with micro-tuning, and served as something of a sequel to 2017’s Flying Microtonal Banana.
Set for release on Friday, February 26th, frontman Stu Mackenzie commented on the upcoming album’s use of narratives, a common theme given previous records such as Infest the Rats’ Nest, or Nonagon Infinity, and the fact that L.W. closes with the track “K.G.L.W.”, which also opens K.G..
“I like to order a record early,” Mackenzie explains of the band’s intricate structures and grand thematic concepts. “That’s something that I often do. And usually, the easiest one to slot in is the opener, so listening back to L.W. a theme song of sorts emerged.
“The outro is like a mirror image of the intro. And as we worked on it, it kept growing, as a lot of our songs do. In this case it just kept getting more and more ridiculous. I’m not sure how he acquired them, but Joe (Walker, guitarist) got all these crazy samples that he put on there. There’s an MRI machine, hammers, power tools, a drawbridge, a chainsaw, an angle-grinder. Cookie played a hammer and an anvil. It’s very metal. Literally.”
News of the record’s announcement also comes accompanied by a music video for new track “Pleura”. The clip, which showcases a live performance of the song from the band’s studio, was filmed just last night and features the directorial talents of John Angus Stewart, who also helmed 2020 concert film Chunky Shrapnel.
“I think a true document of live music shouldn’t rely entirely on editing,” Stewart explained in a statement. “There is something that happens with the way we perceive images, if something ‘live’ is too produced, your mind sort of loses interest.
“With this format, we wanted to leave the editing up to the viewer. The decision of who to look at, and at what time determines each individual viewing experience. With each watch your experience will be completely different, which mirrors Gizzard’s experience playing the song live. The process is the same, yet the result is different.”
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard will release L.W. on Friday, February 26th, with pre-orders available now.
