On the opener of The Flaming Lips' latest album, At War with the Mystics, lead singer Wayne Coyne tries to deliver a scathing political statement to powerful world leaders by asking, With all your power, what would you do?\
This same question could be asked of the band's artistic direction; the Flips are at the height of their popularity and critical acclaim after a pair of albums that left behind the noisy psychedelica of their previous work in favor of a dream pop aesthetic. So, Mr. Coyne, with all that popularity and credibility, what would you do?
Disappointingly, the band chooses to play it safe with a larger audience, opting for a set of goofy pop songs that will not alienate newly-acquired fans. The album contains a lot fewer electronic bleeps than Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots and a lot subtler orchestration than The Soft Bulletin, but it keeps a huge sound by filling in the gaps with more prog-rock effects like flutes, organs and oddball percussion pushes.
The band's website describes Mystics as slightly more rocking than its predecessors. The band rediscovers the joy of building songs around guitars instead of using them as window dressing. Lead single ""The W.A.N.D."" uses a dirty funk guitar riff and handclaps to give it an edge missing from the band's recent work.
The mining of soul and funk occasionally goes astray. Coyne's irritating Prince imitation on ""Free Radicals"" ruins a potentially groovy track. Similarly, the chipmunk-like vocal manipulation on ""It Overtakes Me"" sounds plain wrong.
Even with these strange missteps, Mystics delivers more melodies for your buck than instrumental-heavy Yoshimi. The fewer interludes on Mystics are more concise and interesting. The four-minute ""The Wizard Takes On"" easily trumps all of the extended interludes on Yoshimi. Mystics, however, doesn't have a standout like ""Fight Test"" or ""Do you Realize?"" though its songwriting is far more consistent.
Like their recent albums, At War with the Mystics' best characteristic is its lighthearted and optimistic handling of heavy philosophical themes. For example, ""Mr. Ambulance Driver"" tells the story of a man finding comfort in the death of a friend by recognizing the cyclical nature of life. The Flaming Lips' highest priority is reaching an emotional resonance.
Their failures are worth enduring for that one song that hits your soft spot and makes you succumb to their positive, blatantly naïve world view. It is difficult to call At War with the Mystics a great album, but it still has enough bright spots to keep you charmed.
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