I will admit, I am not a Flaming Lips fan. I have tried to get into them, but I just don't have any interest in their brand of whimsical indie rock. I'm sorry. But I had heard a lot of talk about this album, Embryonic and how it was "their most ambitious album" or how "far out" it is. I might have even seen it on some people's 'top albums of 2009' lists. I was still hesitant though, seeing this was released on Warner Brothers. However after reading accolades and stumbling upon the first track "Convinced of the Hex" I had to see what all the hubbub was about.
Little did I know, this album was in fact ambitious and left-field, by The Flaming Lips' standards. "Convinced of the Hex" is a trudging, reverberated piece that progresses and progresses as background noises build. There are slower songs too, like "Evil" which barely has any drums and is again, covered in reverb. Might I also mention, not one song sounds the same as the other; and there are 18 songs. Onward, "See the Leaves" is in the same vein as "Convinced of the Hex" being progressive, but the songs have different melodies and are easy to tell apart.
I may sound like other people right now, saying that it's very different from what they've done in the past, but there are still songs that are groan-worthy. Like the song "If" which is just a boring 2-minute(thank god) ballad that would sound a lot better if it had more subtleties, considering it has so much empty room for background noises. Unfortunately, the ambition of the album sometimes gets to Wayne Coyne's head, because a lot of songs on the album are either fillers or they are tongue-and-cheek about how distorted or out-there it may be.
My gripes don't damage the album too much though, because the nuances and odd sounds work well on some tracks like "Powerless" which around the 4-minute mark has some delayed guitar that is so quick that it creates feedback. And right after that, we get a really great--I guess you could call it "hard rocking" tune "The Ego's Last Stand" that would be even greater if the last 2 minutes were cut out. Then we get "I Can Be A Frog" which is so--ugh. So obvious that it's trying to be childish and "cute," with Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs making animal noises over the phone and laughing afterwards. What a *facepalm* moment. Speaking of musical cameos, MGMT actually performs on "Worm Mountain" which now holds the title for "loudest fart bass to ever grace your ears." It has a good melody though, and the fart bass sort-of works. The album doesn't try to kill your ears 100% though, "The Impulse" has a nice smooth jazz feel, if that's your bag. But then it's killed by whoever the idiot is that decided to sing into a vocoder. At least "Silver Trembling Hands" and "Watching the Planets" make up for it.
So, the songs do blend well and it works as an album. But taking the songs out of context, the majority of them are fillers. I can see its appeal, and why people like it. It's been said that it requires multiple listens because you might not "get it" but I've listened to this all the way through, and I get it. I like the idea that The Flaming Lips didn't want to keep delving into mainstream territory, but they took it to the extreme and in all honesty, tried too hard. Though I thought I was going to experience a transition, Embryonic just gave me another reason not to like The Flaming Lips.
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