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Hear the Flaming Lips’ Excellent Post-Punk Explosion ‘Look… the Sun Is Rising’

The Flaming Lips 'Look... the Sun is Rising' The Terror New Album

When we spoke to the Flaming Lips about their forthcoming 13th album The Terror, Wayne Coyne explained his band’s approach thusly: “Don’t think about song lengths, don’t think about marketing, don’t think about anything, just make music that you want to make and get away from this crazy headspace where you fuck it up by fiddling with it.” Clearly that technique worked, as the refreshing pre-apocalyptic blast that was “Sun Blows Up Today” not only reinvigorated critical interest in the Okie experimentalists, but scored them a spot in a Super Bowl ad for Hyundai.

NPR has now premiered a second solar-themed track from the April 2 release (the previously released song will appear as a bonus cut) and it’s decidedly darker in tone. Still, “Look… the Sun is Rising” is filled with musical promise: adopting a deeply psychedelic tact, the Lips employ clanging drums, angular guitars, whirring keys, and moody atmospherics to create an immersive and enigmatic sound. Coyne buries himself in the midst of it, singing quietly of the strange magic that the right horizon can impart.

The clanging, repetitive track is a glimmering example of post-punk gone weird — something we never knew we wanted, but now find ourselves craving something fierce.