THE WIZARDS OF YOUR MIND

With its bouncing psychedelia and slashes of surf guitar, "I’m in your mind" is the perfect opening to the 2014 album by Melbourne’s King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. The helium vocals give the track a light touch (tee hee) while the segue into "I’m not in your mind", all Arabic scales and cheesy quotes, amply demonstrates both the versatility and humour of this unique band.

I’m In Your Mind Fuzz came out in October of 2014 and was the band’s fifth release. As fans would know, in terms of productivity they were only just getting going. At the time of writing King Gizz have given the world twenty studio album plus two (official) live recordings and a bunch of 'bootleg' live albums. Not to mention dozens of singles, music videos, some EPs and three compilation albums. You can’t fault their work ethic.

Back to I’m In Your Mind Fuzz. There is so much to like about this album. It really charges out of the gate with the two linked tracks mentioned above, but the pace doesn’t slack off. The deliciously dippy "Cellophane" follows. Here are the full lyrics.

You can watch your movies in 3D

It’s so strange with cellophane

Do do do do

You can colour everything you see

It’s so strange with cellophane

With a well-placed burst of synthesisers, the earlier songs return, amalgamated as "I’m in your mind fuzz". It’s so infectiously energetic you can’t keep still. Surely psychedelia hasn’t been this much fun since 1968.

The woozy groove of "Empty" stutters out a tale of existential angst (redeemed by lurve) before "Hot water", channelling some sweet Cluster electronica, demonstrates the truncated stream-of-consciousness lyrics common across King G songs. Here it’s floating above a clever, bouncy tune. There’s plenty of variety; it is certainly not all relentless pounding guitars. That’s part of the delightful enigma of this band. Think of a style and you’ll find an example of it somewhere in their extensive catalogue.

Although traditional rock band instrumentation underlies the recording—guitars, bass, drums, harmonica… it sounds like a 70s Aussie blues-rock combo!—strenuous efforts are made to introduce variety to the sound. Mackenzie’s flute is a prominent example of this on I’m In Your Mind Fuzz; it weaves in and out of several songs, including "Hot Water", adding a pleasing psychedelic folk lilt. They also have fun with studio tricks, such as the slow down at the end of "Empty" and the treated vocals throughout.

"Am I in heaven" has a hard blues-rock edge, with squalling harmonica and a pounding groove. At a tad over seven minutes, it is one of two long tracks on the LP, though the segues make that a little tricky to map! I really enjoy the loping deceleration of "Slow jam 1" that follows this epic. Things do indeed slow down towards the end of the journey. The melodic (and deceptively titled) "Satan speeds up" leads into "Her and I (Slow jam 2)", taking us out on a mellow wave crested by flowing guitars.

The recently re-issued 45 RPM "Audiophile Edition" is a great way to catch up on this corker of an album. It spins fast and sounds fantastic. There’s no problem flipping the record every ten minutes because it is impossible to stay in your seat while I’m In Your Mind Fuzz is playing.

© Bruce Jenkins—August 2022