Peace Sword

Wizards. Time travel. Pink robots. Frogs. With subject matters like these under their belt, it hardly seems like a surprise that The Flaming Lips were asked to contribute to the soundtrack of this year’s sci-fi blockbuster Ender’s Game. This latest release, which comes six months after their thirteenth LP The Terror, and a week before a collaborative EP with fellow indie-rockers Tame Impala (and not to mention a collaborative album with Ke$ha somewhere on the horizon) shows an attempt to bridge the gap between the Technicolor indie-pop of their critically acclaimed Soft Bulletin-era and the synth-driven bleakness of their recent output.

Despite the 35-minute length of the EP, only the first five minutes are actually used in the film: in reality, it’s more similar to Symmetry’s Themes For an Imaginary Film (the unused soundtrack for 2011 hit Drive in album-form), in that this is the soundtrack The Flaming Lips (rather than director Gavin Hood) envisioned for Ender’s Game. Nevertheless, opening track ‘Peace Sword (Open Your Heart)’ has made the cut, and is played over the film’s closing credits. It’s not hard to see why: layers of major-key synthesisers and optimistic lyrics give the perfect sense of euphoria to end a Hollywood production.

Taken solely as a song, however, it’s just not that interesting to listen to in isolation. Superficially, it sounds similar to their previously-mentioned indie-pop sound of the late ’90s, but the glossy production can’t really hide the fact there isn’t much going on behind the sheen: most glaringly, it lacks the raw emotion that made The Soft Bulletin so compelling. As such, it’s as incongruous as The Terror’s cheery bonus track ‘Sun Blows Up Today’ (though the latter was certainly stronger, perhaps because it doesn’t tread old ground as blatantly). For better or for worse, The Flaming Lips have changed in the 15 years since that album was released, and so, emulating their previous success was always going to be risky. And sadly, it hasn’t quite paid off here.

This EP attempts to bridge the gap between the Technicolor indie-pop of the band’s critically acclaimed Soft Bulletin-era and the synth-driven bleakness of their recent output.

Thankfully, the remaining tracks eschew the saccharinity of this opener, and instead draw from the sombre mood they’ve established so fully in their most recent albums Embryonic and The Terror, though the optimism of the opening track does permeate in places. The emotional core and high-point of the EP arrives 11 minutes in, by way of the ballad ‘Is the Black at the End Good’. Frontman Wayne Coyne sounds weak and defeated (possibly an effect of touring for thirty years and having recently celebrating his 52^nd birthday), but nevertheless, it gels nicely here as he proclaims that “the sun is right behind us / Though it’s cold and dark ahead / That’s just me being optimistic / I know, I know”. It’s announced with minimal vocal treatments and an initially-subdued instrumental backing which swells with the song’s mood, before closing on the line “’cause everywhere the love is / That’s where I’ll be”. It’s the antithesis to the title track’s hollowness, and is far stronger for it.

The remainder of the EP has its moments as well: ‘Wolf Children’ has a jauntiness that adds an element of fun to the somewhat dystopian subject matter of the song (children that have become wolves, naturally), and ‘If It Moves, Shoot It’ sounds like it would have been right at home on The Terror. Closer ‘Assassin Beetle – The Dream is Ending’ is a 10-minute dirge of distorted bass, vocals, and other various noises, and thus feels harder to recommend, though it remains an interesting listen.

On the whole, however, the EP suffers most from incongruity, with the whiplash from mood to mood almost neck-breaking. Whilst most tracks are strong when taken individually, it’s clear that this is more of a sketchbook of ideas than a single, fully-formed piece. Of course, it was never supposed to be anything more, but taken solely as a Flaming Lips release, it is certainly one of the band’s less essential listens.

Similar To: Tame Impala, Phantogram

MP3: ‘Is the Black at the End Good’, ‘Wolf Children’