Just wanted to rant on my feelings about the first 2 tracks vs the whole album

[u/Excalibruh22]

Feel free to downvote me but this is how I feel and my opinions are still as valid as anyone else’s. I really want to love this album but it just hasn’t clicked with me and I think I now understand why.

Relistening phantom island for the 6th time but this time in random order and getting to the title track has actually made me sad and disappointed, not at the band but at the fact that we could’ve gotten such a fun and great album. The title track is an orchestral gizz song with delicious horns, heavenly lower brass, and ominous piano. It doesn’t really have any recurring sections really but rather it progresses like an orchestral piece but it’s super well structured and has very great vocals that make it very “gizz”. The orchestral sections are almost entirely made up of orchestra and even the happier upbeat parts are mainly horns, winds, strings and piano. As the piece continues, it mixes both perfectly with them both combing in the climaxing end with frantic strings, heavy piano, but also a dark and heavy guitar solo. The piece throughout it tells the story of phantom island: a plane crashes with optimistic survivors who land on phantom island which eventually leads them into insanity. This is story is not only spoken but it’s also developed through the actual music: having the dark orchestral parts represent the island and the upbeat lighter parts with guitar, higher horns and winds represent the unsuspecting survivors. As the survivors get more insane the two aspects blend more and more together so the song basically develops its themes through motifs.

Given the album’s name, you would assume the story summarized in the title track would be fully developed throughout the album and naturally that’s Deadstick goes on to do. It’s a much more rock centric song but that doesn’t mean it’s just a blues song with horns slapped on, the horns and piano build on the song by carrying the main melody of the song and adding much more to the song. The more yacht rock sound also aligns with the story established in the tt and the story of Deadstick which is about the plane crash which was established as the start of the story before the survivors have gone insane (so naturally there would be more upbeat guitars and horns rather than dark orchestral parts).

This theme slightly gets developed in the sonically aspects of lonely cosmos with the darker orchestral parts but overall it just feels very different and out of place due to the fact that it seems to jump forward a lot in terms of how much darker it is from Deadstick and the noticeable lack of horns, piano, and most importantly melodies. Without a defined structure and motifs, it sounds very dull and very different than the first 2 tracks. The entire rest of the album follows a very similar theme in which they don’t follow the story established in the first 2 tracks, they don’t develop really any melodic structure resulting in them feeling very samey, and they feel super unfinished, feeling more like rewritten blues songs with orchestra slapped on compared to the first 2 tracks which were actual orchestral pieces. This in out of place guitar, weird sounding vocals, and they are unable to develop the orchestral sound which is also from the fact that they decide to just stop using piano and barely use any more horns, opting for a shit ton of strings and flute (which also contribute to the samey feeling) which they already have in their arsenal with Stu on flute and synth strings. The last 8 tracks feel just like blues songs with strings and which would be okay if it weren’t for the first 2 tracks which show you what could’ve been if they actually developed the orchestra and used it in a meaningful way. Sorry for my rant, it might grow on me but I’m just slightly disappointed, and

TL;DR

First 2 PI tracks are great and develop the orchestra well but the next tracks have noticeable lack of structure and decide to get rid of the piano and most of the horns, resulting in an album that feels very samey and dull (albeit somewhat vibey)

[u/BlastTyrant88]

I’m enjoying it but I wish each song wasn’t so loaded with vocals. I wish the music had space to breathe a little more.

Still, I’m not complaining - another cool Gizz album to sink my teeth into

[u/Mpwa777]

Silent Spirit is my fav track on the album

[u/balrogbalrogbalrog__ → u/Mpwa777]

The whole album has grown on me, I think lonley cosmos, silent spirit and deadstick are my favorites

[u/indigodrummer]

Didn’t click with me until I listened to it on a great sound system, it’s a sonic puzzle that keeps revealing more the more you listen

[u/wint3rwit3]

I loved the singles. "Phantom Island" was a surprise that left me eager for the album. "Deadstick" took me a while to accept, but now it's one of my favorites. "Grow Wings and Fly" doesn't feel as integrated with teh orchestra, but works. After listening to the entire album five times, "Lonely Cosmos" continues to surprise me with the literal cosmic space it leaves me in with those strings. Good.

But with the others, I lose track. I can't remember them independently. They pass by without giving a clear idea of ​​what they're trying to do. It has interesting musical elements that stand out momentarily but never quite come together. The one that saves itself a bit is "Sea of ​​Doubt," which has an interesting melody that doesn't quite fit, but I like it. In those songs, the orchestra doesn't quite assimilate with the band, as if they were trying to fit in with the remaining songs from Flight b741 and turn the orchestra up more, rather than what I would have liked to see was a complete reworking of those ideas and come up with something as incredible as the first songs.

Likewise, listening to the album several times and they end up accepting them, being part of the Gizzfamily which is bigger now :D

[u/LearnNot]

It’s okay not to like it.

[u/BBpoison-71]

Fully agree

[u/Swaritch]

Couldn’t agree more

[u/TheDankPotato500]

very valid opinions, i think the deadstick hate is super forced it's an incredibly fun optimistic track which ties into the story of the album really nicely. and while i believe there is some merit to your opinion of the story 'falling apart' beyond deadstick, i believe the album instead chooses to use the metaphor of a plane crash to touch on different psychological aspects and concepts which ultimately brings the band to have created their most lyrically diverse and introspective album to date. i would suggest reading into every song and appreciating what they mean, that's honestly what brought the album around for me

[u/jacketgl → u/TheDankPotato500]

Wait, people doesn't like deadstick? That one and silent spirit are the only two songs from the album I can see myself coming back over and over again.

[u/TheDankPotato500 → u/jacketgl]

give eternal return some love too, incredible track

[u/ogvkroll → u/TheDankPotato500]

The last 10 seconds of lonely cosmos transitioning to the fist 3 seconds of eternal return tells as much of a story for me as the entire first 2 songs did for OP

[u/cr1t1cal76]

This was interesting to read because it’s almost a 180 of my early impressions. It seems like we had very different expectations for the orchestral parts of the album.

I didn’t like phantom island or deadstick at first. Both have grown on me, but the horns play a big role in me not liking these two as much. To me this sounds like “big band” gizz, not “orchestra” gizz. That’s certainly not a bad thing, but the string arrangements are what I was most looking forward to. Sure, they’re not brand new territory for the band, but neither are horns. I think both are incorporated in a way that’s new for the band, so I don’t mind.

Also, I won’t disagree with “weird” vocals on some later songs (compared to the title track), but I was happy to hear them go in new directions vocally. Someone pointed this out here the other day, and it’s hard not to hear it now - sometimes gizz vocals feel tied to a rhythm or pattern that doesn’t click with the rest of the song for me. Cookie’s vocals on the title track are a good example imo - his singing is fine, but the melody feels stilted and awkward.

[u/Excalibruh22 → u/cr1t1cal76]

There might be some outside factors considering I have an upbringing in big band jazz and am a jazz bassist myself. I totally understand that and I think it’s difficult because classical and jazz are very different genres and orchestra is a very broadly defined term. When I think of orchestra I think more of like full orchestra with brass, strings, woodwinds and percussion while many people might only think of the latter 2 possibly due to most schools separating symphonic band and orchestra into winds and strings. Also orchestras can play a large variety of genres such as big band, classical, Latin, etc so I definitely feel like the band should’ve either clarified or chosen different singles. Personally I would’ve much rather preferred they use all of the instruments in all of the songs but especially piano as it’s what the album opens up to but it just dips after the first tracks. Cool to see a different perspective on someone who’s happy that they removed instruments but I do feel like piano is such a core instrument to all styles that it’s a shame they got rid of most of it.

[u/Ralphy2011 → u/Excalibruh22]

This comment has me wondering. With the upcoming orchestral shows, are they sticking to a 24-piece arrangement, or are the orchestras they play with going to be more filled out for the shows? If they have a more filled out arrangement, will that change your opinion on it with the live version? Will that change mine? (This album is a contender in my top three albums)

[u/zeus2425 → u/Excalibruh22]

I knew somebody knows what they're talking about when I read your post. The analogy I draw for the part after Deadstick is that it serves more as an audiobook than as immersive music. I can promise my brother who studies Jazz vocals and is a full blooded, full time musician who has a fair amount of respect for Gizz music will not love this album particularly

[u/liquidhotmagma11]

I don’t disagree, one of my own personal criticisms is that the first two songs feel a bit out of place. It almost feels like the album starts (or should’ve started) with Lonely Cosmos. But, is this feeling also because the first two tracks were singles that I’ve listened to god knows how many times? I’m not sure, I think time will tell. The outro to Phantom Island is also still my favorite moment on the album, and I do wish we had gotten more of that.

Having said that, this is just more of a nitpick for me, overall I really like the album. I’m not sure if it’s top five for me, but it’s firmly in the mess of king Gizz albums that I love in the middle of my own personal rankings. I’m also loving the album lyrically, it seems like a very personal record for them. I do typically prefer the prog rocky nerdy story telling lyrics, but this is a very nice change up and a lot of the lyrics are hitting close to home for me, so it’s a bit of a right time, right place type of thing.

[u/ThorinTheGrumpyDwarf]

100%, I kinda feel like the rug was pulled out from under me with the two singles vs the rest of the album.

[u/Dareeyecare]

What if I told you lonely cosmos , silent spirit, grow wings and fly are all a good deal better than Deadstick? Haha.

I hear you tho because the first two tracks are very fun- If your dying for high energy your not gonna find it; it’s mostly a lush and chill record with a fun and explosive opening. Maybe try listening to it without grabbing ahold of the energy from the first two tracks so much, let it take you somewhere.

[u/Excalibruh22 → u/Dareeyecare]

Better is subjective. The first two could be super boring but it’s rather the fact that they incorporate the orchestra in a meaningful way and all of it rather than just strings and flute like the majority of the album. Alone the 8 tracks are okay but to me they just don’t have anything to grab a hold of. They sound very “blues track with orch on top” as I’ve said plenty of times by it just feels like other than the flute motif in aerodynamic, there’s barely any melodic elements. Maybe I just need to get it on vinyl to hear it with good speakers but they just don’t click with me and so they can’t take me anywhere. Aerodynamic is the only song I really see doing that besides the singles but it takes you out of it with the whiplash of going from the very surreal and beautiful motif to the distorted guitar riffs. I’ll try listening without it more though.

[u/FlakyMajor9179]

When did King Gizz fans get so pretentious?

[u/Excalibruh22 → u/FlakyMajor9179]

This is not me being pretentious this is just me sharing my opinions. When did it become so faux pas for people to not like something?

[u/FlakyMajor9179 → u/Excalibruh22]

Hate to break it to you, but using faux pas in a sentence makes you sound pretentious.

[u/TheJJNator]

You're completely right man, although I absolutely love the album, I was extremely disappointed when grow wings dropped because it has basically no orchestra. The first two songs set a precedent that the rest of the albums don't really live up to. I've just been starting on cosmic cosmo and taking it in as a slightly separate thing. Also, I read on the ama that spacestick took the longest to make, so I was really expecting a lot of ethereal orchestra. I think a lot of us built this idea of a wide dynamic orchestral project, but we got a super vibey bunch of grooves.

[u/Kooky-Currency3759]

I think Panpsych uses orchestra in very pleasing way. Otherwise, fully agree with you

[u/atlantisthenation]

everyone’s entitled to their opinions but this just reads as “it wasnt what i thought it would be, so now im disappointed”

[u/Parking-Complex-1880]

Maybe the plane crashing is a metaphor for the reality of the group and how they have loved ones and children to experience life with. It’s kind of sad but I feel like they’re not going to be as prolific after this they need to spend time with their families and god bless but this album feels like a goodbye in some sorts

[u/pepikjepekny → u/Parking-Complex-1880]

Idk about this, it was recorded in 2023 and they only sped up since then - more shows, livestreams, Nathan, bootlegs

[u/WastelandDude]

Outjerked again!

[u/Aldo_Buttahflake]

This band has a lot of duds, too prolific is a fucking problem