Unravelling the labyrinth of King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s eighth album, Nonagon Infinity begins with the title;
“Nonagon”: a nine sided polygon, an image rarely seen out of maths textbooks
“Infinity”: a concept constructed by mathematicians that is defined as “the quality or state of endlessness or having no limits in terms of time, space, or other quantity”
The nine songs created and explored within Nonagon Infinity is laced with Gizzard’s elastic and buoyant reality. Nonagon Infinity is hallucinogenic in nature – a wild, undisclosed journey of sound past physical existence, into reverberations of the cosmos, where time, space and sound converge into a dimension that transcends reality.
The journey begins with ‘Robot Stop’, a track that slowly catalyses the journey of the listener to outer space, opening with a short, but abrupt sentence “Nonagon Infinity opens the door” encompassing the unpredictable trip listeners are about to embark. Doused with heavy electronic noise and rhythm, interweaved with almost indecipherable robotic vocals, a myriad of colour explosions and dangerously infectious simple riffs. Leaving no time at all, it is straight into the heart of the deepest jungles within ‘Big Fig Wasp’. This is where Gizzard starts to slowly manipulate listeners, crystallising the scene of looking into the eyes of freakishly gargantuan insects that can send Hunter S. Thompson into cognitive convulsion. The journey calms ever so slightly, before Gizzard descends into the systematic chaos of ‘Gamma Knife’, synthesising the Gizzard sound fans know all too well.
‘People Vultures’ lures listeners back to the immersion of their ears to the freakish and bizarre glimpse of infinite dimensions painted by twisted melodies, bent electronic undercurrents, and saccharine vocals. ‘Mr Beat’ provides the must needed fragment of peace with its ‘70s rhythmic atmosphere.
And then the journey ascends again with insanity and reckless abandon interweaved within ‘Evil Death Roll’. Listeners wrestle with what’s left of their cerebral capacity, and then pushed at light speed into a chaotic landscape, dominated by the sound of unfamiliar melodies and rhythm, desperately clinging onto familiar sounds. Slowly reaching for the lucid nature of ‘Invisible Free’. Once stuck in the realm of ‘Invisible Free’ listeners are forced to hear the Jazz atmosphere permeating the shadows of this new reality, not knowing whether to stop listening or progress further into unexplored terrestrial boundaries. Holding onto the last few notes, this is the last goodbye in this realm and then the journey continues into the electronic pop-stoner current of sound that runs through ‘Wah Wah’.
Once fluidly following the current of sound through ‘Wah Wah’, Gizzard then smoothly diverges listeners away, and thrown into the spotlight of ‘70s rock and roll with ‘Road Train’. Infused with dense and dirty blues guitar riffs, Gizzard sets up the grand finale of the trip. Injecting ‘Road Train’ with subtle hints of electronic distortion underneath the blues riffs, Gizzard inevitably manifests the perfect climax to this hallucinogenic trip. A moment of familiarity is coming, and there it is, saturating every single sonic sound you hear. A glimpse of comfort that was once seen as confronting. And as the last bit of insanity draws to a close, it’s done leaving listeners with no idea of what to do next. The answer is simple, enter Nonagon Infinity again and experience an unparalleled trip of chaos.
Rating: ★★★★
Nonagon Infinity is available now from King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard
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