Embryonic (album)

Embryonic is the 12th studio album by experimental rock band the Flaming Lips released on October 13, 2009, on Warner Bros. The band's first double album, it was released to generally positive reviews and became their most successful album in the US, peaking at number 8 on the Billboard 200.

Production

News of the album first surfaced in an interview with Wayne Coyne, who stated that "Somewhere along the way it occurred to me that we should do a double album... Just this idea that you can weave a couple of themes into there and you can sprawl a little bit.

Several other artists made contributions to various tracks on the album. German mathematician Dr. Thorsten Wörmann contributed to the track "Gemini Syringes", psychedelic rock band MGMT contributed to the song "Worm Mountain", and Karen O (lead singer of the alternative rock trio Yeah Yeah Yeahs) contributed to the songs "I Can Be a Frog" and "Watching the Planets". Karen O's contributions were recorded by Wayne Coyne over the phone.

Background and promotion

On August 13, 2009, the song "See the Leaves" was reviewed and streamed on Pitchfork.com On September 3, 2009, the album was previewed in its entirety on The Fly website, using Wayne Coyne's own track-by-track guide.

On September 17, 2009, the band appeared on The Colbert Report and announced that the album would stream in its entirety on Colbertnation.com until September 21, 2009.

Embryonic was streamed in full on the UK music site Clash Music on October 5, just over a week ahead of its release. It was selected as fourth best album of 2009 by Pitchfork Media.

Critical reception

Embryonic received acclaim from critics upon release, garnering an 81/100 score (indicating "universal acclaim") on Metacritic based on 33 critics. NME wrote that "ten years after their last masterpiece, The Flaming Lips have finally produced another one," while Paste described the record as "a wonderfully weird parade of sonic delights: an arresting consummation of the Lips' two-and-a-half decade career." Other critics praised the album but were also quick to note its dramatically different sound in comparison to previous releases. Mojo remarked that "(Embryonic's) themes may be familiar, but its fine, dazzlingly outlandish music is fresh and utterly fearless." Graeme Thomson in The Observer described the album as a "fragmented, loose, indulgent, occasionally inspired, [and] considerably heavier than their last outing". Stuart Berman in Pitchfork called it a " an unrelentingly paranoid, static-soaked acid-rock epic" and praised the raw directness of the material. David Machese in Spin Magazine also noted the uncompromising sound and lyrical content, describing it as "the band's coldest, darkest, slipperiest, least organic work yet.

As of 2011, the album has sold 103,000 copies in the United States.

Sound and influence

The style of the tracks on Embryonic differs from the styles of previous albums, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots and At War with the Mystics, and has been reported to be similar to the style of Joy Division, Miles Davis, and John Lennon.

Wayne Coyne says the new record solves their perpetual "dilemma" of what to include on each album, by dumping all their ideas on the follow-up to 2006's At War with the Mystics. Coyne had this to say about the double-LP decision to Billboard: "Some of my favorite records – thinking Beatles' White Album, Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti and even some of the longer things that The Clash have done – part of the reason I like them is that they're not focused. They're kind of like a free-for-all and go everywhere. It's not necessarily because we're prolific, I think we always stay in a sort of perpetual panic of like we never have more songs than we need and we always wonder if any of them are any good to begin with." Coyne notes that Embryonic is less polished than Mystics or 2002's Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots and has a "freak-out vibe". The frontman also notes the influence of Miles Davis's group and slow-burn songs like John Lennon's "Instant Karma!".

Deluxe edition

A deluxe version of the album was released on October 13, 2009.

The deluxe edition includes the original 18 tracks (on two discs) as well as a bonus DVD-Audio which features the album in full dynamic range at 24bit/96 kHz audio. A further variant sold exclusively through the band's website is packaged in a "fur pack" with an extended booklet which features additional art, lyrics, and band photos. This web-only deluxe edition also comes with a 14-inch by 28-inch lithograph featuring the full album cover. A limited number of pre-orders received an additional lithograph autographed by the band, shipped 2–3 weeks after the release date.

Track listing

Itunes exclusive bonus tracks

Personnel

The Flaming Lips

Wayne Coyne – lead vocals, guitar, theremin, keyboards, vocoder, mixing, production
Steven Drozd – guitars, keyboards, drums, bass, backing vocals, lead vocals on "If", mixing, production
Michael Ivins – bass, keyboards, backing vocals, mixing, production, additional engineering
Kliph Scurlock – drums, percussion

Additional personnel

Scott Booker – production
Dave Fridmann – production, mixing, programming, engineering, mastering
MGMT – additional singing and playing (track 13)
Karen O – additional singing, screaming, animal sounds and noises (tracks: 7, 11, 18)
Thorsten Wörmann – spoken announcements (tracks: 7, 17)