It’s remarkable how quickly The Lazy Eyes have accumulated acclaim since releasing their first EP in mid-2020, like a tiny snowball steadily picking up speed and increasing in size as it barrels downhill on the leading edge of an all-consuming avalanche. Despite the reckless abandon at which the band seems to be attracting attention from press and music fans alike, The Lazy Eyes saunter into EP2 with a level of measured confidence that positions them as one of the most satisfying psych acts to emerge in recent memory.
EP2 opens with the chugging sci-fi psych anthem “Where’s My Brain???,” a motorik driven headtrip of nonstop forward momentum bristling with nervous energy and borderline unhinged mania. Spiky guitar peaks up amongst the rhythm, trading places with spacey synth in a psychedelic call-and-answer that refuses to let up over the track’s nearly seven-minute runtime. The only reprieve takes the form of a guitar riff that shines as bright as a polished chrome bumper on a vintage VW bus, pitted with tiny pockmarks of rust from warm saline ocean breezes for the perfect amount of timeworn patina.
“Nobody Taught Me” sports some of the most intricate and truly personal lyrics on EP2, pivoting away from ambiguous psychedelic motifs to focus on genuine feelings of loneliness with clear-eyed sobriety that serves as a welcome palate cleanser between the swirling double vision quests that bookend this release. The relative instrumental simplicity allows the lyrics to take center stage. The standout rhyme “there was nothing more fun than that, and as sure as that, now I really want it back. Please don’t go, go home” is delivered with a dynamic cadence that flirts with radio-ready pop, adapting the band’s established sonic palette into adjacent forms that underscore the secret of The Lazy Eyes’ wide-ranging appeal.
“The Island” opens with lilting motif that feels lifted almost wholesale from some forgotten mid-1960s British invasion band, gentle acoustic guitar lulling the listener into a false sense of easy complacency before abruptly shifting focus, dropping into a slinky groove that underpins the remainder of the track. Bass and drums undulate and flex with rubbery dynamism as a thick layer of guitar-forward Innerspeaker-era Tame Impala is slathered on top like psychedelic jam on hearty Britpop toast.
The simple, childlike lyrics are delivered with a remarkable air of nursery rhyme innocence, describing the features and topography of an idyllic island refuge replete with casual intrigue. The lyrics serve as connective tissue between sonic vignettes that interpret the core musical theme in varying shades of wonder and anxiety, ebbing and flowing against white sand beaches with the frothy unpredictability and hypnotic rhythm of surf tinted golden in the sunset. As the sun sets behind the horizon line shadows begin to stretch across the final minute dropping “The Island” into a brief but disorienting gloaming, summoning amorphous phantoms with a rat-tat-tat to dance among the palms before snapping out of existence as the track ends, swallowed by the night.
Stylized under a heavy layer of sepia tinted film grain accented with perfectly executed lens flares, the video for “The Island” follows the band as they venture from the coast deep into the jungles of the mind, indulging in forbidden fruit and stalked by mysterious masked figures lurking amongst the fronds. As the long, strange trip progresses the band begin to lose their grip on reality, ultimately joining their masked stalkers in a Lord Of The Flies inspired ceremony in the dead of night, human eyes flashing behind grotesque visages. The skillful juxtaposition of marvelous innocence and spellbinding paranoia are the heart of darkness buried deep within “The Island,” a potent combination that stands as The Lazy Eyes’ most compelling quality.
EP2 is steaming now on Spotify and Bandcamp. Follow The Lazy Eyes on Instagram.
