The Flaming Lips Are Embryonic

06/18/09 1:08pm

by Kate Harper (CHARTattack)

The Flaming Lips' forthcoming 12th studio album will be a double and will be called Embryonic when it hits stores in September.

The band have been working on the disc, which is the follow-up to 2006's At War With The Mystics, for a long time. They're still working on naming the songs and sequencing them, and frontman Wayne Coyne told BBC 6music that making a double album takes a lot of commitment, which can be difficult since Coyne says the band are "unfocussed" sometimes.

"We went into it thinking 'are we going to make a double album?' but it's harder than you would think," he said.

"You have to work on [a record] and you have to really immerse yourself in it and be obsessed and shape it.

"I think it must be like being a cook in the kitchen. You're preparing this great thing but by the time it's ready you're sick of it because you've been smeling it, you've got it in your hair and in your fingers and all that."

Um, did he forget the purpose of gloves and hair nets?

Don't expect the music on Embryonic to be similar to the band's previous releases, though. In May, Billboard.com reported there are songs that sound like Joy Divison and Miles Davis among the 13 tracks that had then been written for Embryonic, which is being recorded at drummer Steven Drozd's house. Back then, eight or nine more tracks were to be written before the album was completed.

There's a good chance The Flaming Lips will play new songs at these tour dates:

June 26 St. Gallen, Switzerland @ OpenAir St. Gallen
June 28 Helsinki, Finland @ Pitka Kuuma
July 19 Chicago, IL @ Union Park (Pitchfork Music Festival)
July 26 Byron Bay, Australia @ Belongil Bay (Splendour In The Grass Festival)
July 28 Sydney, Australia @ Hordern Pavilion
July 29 Melbourne, Australia @ Festival Hall
Aug. 7 Osaka, Japan @ Summer Sonic Festival
Aug. 9 Tokyo, Japan @ Summer Sonic Festival
Aug. 21 Redmond, WA @ Marymoor Amphitheatre
Aug. 23 Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Sept. 13 Monticello, NY @ Kutscher's Country Club (All Tomorrow's Parties Festival)