King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard Unveil ‘Phantom Island’, First Single Coming Next Week

Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but prolific Australian outfit King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard are getting ready to release a new album pretty soon. They’ve only done that 26 other times before, but this new release sounds like it’s going to be unique as hell for them.

Titled Phantom Island, this upcoming release was apparently two years in the making, having been inspired by their 2023 show where they played a show with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. As such, this new release will feature the band playing with an orchestra.

Speaking of the album, frontman Stu Mackenzie said the added musical effort from the orchestra added a special layer that the band felt was sorely lacking from the original compositions.

“The songs felt like they needed this other energy and colour, that we needed to splash some different paint on the canvas. We didn’t know we were going to have an orchestra dubbed on top when we were recording. If we had, that would have really changed the songs. But we went into it very free and easy. The songs were written in a very ‘improv’ way, stitched together from multiple takes or longer jams… It feels like you’re in the room with the band and the orchestra, that we’re all in the same room together.”

Pre-orders for the new album will go live this coming Tuesday, April 15, which is also the day they plan on releasing a new music video for the lead single “Deadstick.”

Phantom Island track list:

1. Phantom Island
2. Deadstick
3. Lonely Cosmos
4. Eternal Return
5. Panpsych
6. Spacesick
7. Aerodynamic
8. Sea of Doubt
9. Silent Spirit
10. Grow Wings And Fly