Released: 2015

Genres: Psychedelic Pop, Psychedelic Folk, Neo-Psychedelia, Folk Rock, Sunshine Pop

The Musiquarium’s Paper Maché Dream Balloon Review Score: 8 out of 10

On Paper Mâché Dream Balloon, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard venture into psychedelic folk pop, with an album full of acoustic guitars, flutes and hippie whimsy.

Sense is a jazzy lounge song that contains some of Stu Mackenzie’s most poignant lyrics so far. The music to Bones has that hippie naivety and optimism, despite its ironic, macabre lyrics. Trapdoor is one of the darker songs here, with an underlying sense of dread and unease. The title track is the band at their most cheerful.

It’s Ambrose Kenny-Smith and his harmonica’s time to shine on The Bitter Boogie. Joey Walker continues to spread his artistic wings, with two solo compositions, Dirt and Most of What I Like. Cook Craig also gets a writing credit, with Time = Fate.

Paper Mâché Dream Balloon is another solid KGATLW album with some of the band’s most pleasant compositions yet and an amusing juxtaposition between dark lyricism and upbeat music.

For credit breakdowns and historic release details, view King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard on Discogs.

Back to the 2015 Album Reviews Guide or the King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard Reviews page.

Written by Brett Nippard