The Flaming Lips, Brixton Academy

The  Flaming Lips, led by tousle-haired frontman Wayne Coyne bring their tunefulness, thoughtfulness and madness to Brixton this May.

A seemingly eternal cornerstone in the American alternative rock scene, the band are as hard to pin down as they are varied in their influences: from 60’s psychedelia to science fiction via pitch-perfect pop.

This time however, it’s different. No longer doing lines in the studio with ke$ha (though they have just recorded Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds  with Miley Cyrus) they are back to pushing the musical fold. Their recently released 13th album, The Terror, sees them move further into uncharted waters.

A change of tune

Where before classics like 1999’s The Soft Bulletin melded uplifting melodies with Coyne’s instantly recognisable high pitched delivery, now the gloaming fuzz of  The Terror immerses you in its synthetic, mesmeric beauty. 

The album’s title track is a case in point with its trance-inducing tinny drumbeat and gloomy, expansive keyboards and guitars that envelop Coyne’s existentialist musings on human effort and loneliness.

Once all costumes, dry ice and myriad coloured lasers, their hallowed live shows have not been spared the transformation either. An appearance at SXSW in 2013 marked the about-turn with Coyne statuesque on stage lit by a haunting video projection. 

Still utterly captivating, it showed the band’s adroitness in breaking new ground. 

The opportunity to see one of rock’s most indefatigably talented bands totally rethinking their creative expression is surely unmissable.