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Aug 06, 2024 By Mark Redfern Photography by Maclay Heriot

Melbourne-based psych-rock group King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard are releasing a new album, Flight b741, this Friday via the band’s own p(doom) label. Now they have shared its third single, “Field of Vision.” Listen below.

The band’s Stu Mackenzie had this to say about the song in a press release: “I remember Joey sending me a voice memo of him playing that main riff on acoustic guitar. From his couch to mine. The arrangement was a bit more complicated originally, I think. Perhaps it was closer to the ‘I lied to god’ bridge that came together in the end. Anyway, I don’t think I really understood it or felt the groove, but once we were recording in the studio with the others, it grooved hard. The verse and chorus changes came together quickly and in real time, and we had a tune on our hands. Joey’s baby, this song. And Joey likes to do it right.

“Joey called me a couple of weeks after the sessions, saying we gotta cut the track ‘cos it’s shit.’ What a bummer. And a surprise. Myself and Amby (who loved it) spent the next two days in the studio laying down our vocal parts and overdubs, trying to save it. We dubbed in the guitar-solo-type-section with parts chopped up from outtakes and added a blown out guitar solo. It was a $100 harmony acoustic guitar played through some outboard gear that it was definitely not designed to be used with ha ha. Studios are fun. I hoped he liked it. We printed the tape and sent it to him with a note saying, ‘pleeease man, this has gotta be on the record.’ Joey obliged (but not until after he redid all of his parts). Groove restored.

“We hope you dig it. Love stu xoxo”

Flight b741 is the prolific band’s 26th album. It was first announced on their social media channels. Then they shared the album’s first single, “Le Risque,” via a music video. “Le Risque” was one of our Songs of the Week. Then they shared its second single, “Hog Calling Contest,” as well as a making of the album video entitled Oink Oink Flight b741: The Making of…. “Hog Calling Contest” also landed on Songs of the Week.

Last year the band released a new album, The Silver Cord, via KGLW. There were two versions of The Silver Cord, an extended one and a version with shorter tracks. The Silver Cord followed the elaborately titled PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation, which also came out last year.

This time King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard wanted to make a “no concept” album. “We wanted to make something that was primal, instinctual, more ‘from the gut,’” says frontman Stu Mackenzie in a press release, “just people in a room, doing what feels right. We wanted to make something fun.”

Mackenzie adds: “This is our most collaborative record—the collaboration was occurring in the room, it was free, and everyone was bringing in songs and ideas. And we wanted to have as many lead vocalists as we could, and to pass the mic, like, ‘This is my part, my idea, I’m gonna sing it and then I’m gonna pass the mic along to you and you can do your thing.’ The whole record is built around that. We ended up doing a lot of backing vocals and extra recording, everyone in a room around a couple of microphones, just to give it that feel.”

That collaborative spirit also extended to the lyrics. “We had broad themes for every song, and for the bigger picture of the album as a whole,” says Mackenzie, “but once the mic was passed it was all up to the person who was singing. These songs weren’t written in isolation – someone would write their verse, sing it for the demo, and that would inspire the next person’s part. So we were riffing off each other. Lyrically, it’s all pretty introspective—we’re having a lot of fun, but we’re often singing about some pretty heavy shit, and probably hitting on some deeper, more universal themes than usual. It’s not a sci-fi record, it’s about life and stuff.”

Summing up Flight b741, Mackenzie says: “The record is like a really fun weekend with your mates, you know? Like, proper fun.”

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