Paper Mâché Dream Balloon

It’s a lot of fun, for band and listener both (not always the easiest of tricks)--a ‘concept-less concept album’ shot through with just enough self-aware humour,

While things may start to sag towards the end as the wind in King Gizzard’s new sails dips low, Paper Maché Dream Balloon is undoubtedly one of their more confident statements yet.

Fans of King Gizzard's earlier material may have trouble stomaching the bubbly nature of Paper Mâché Dream Balloon, but just as fellow Aussie psych band Tame Impala did with Currents, sometimes you simply need to take a chance and put out something unexpected--that the flutes on nearly every track end up working is just icing on this sweet cake.

Dream-folkies will be transported back to the gauzy early days of Genesis or the Byrds, indie heads will be transported back to the most powerful skunk spliff they ever smoked along to Pond, Grandaddy or Neutral Milk Hotel.

There can't have been a better 1968 record in all of 2015. [Dec 2015, p.90]

They have things down to a psych-pop/rock science. [Nov-Dec 2015, p.72]

Paper Mâché Dream Balloon is about as straight as King Gizzard are ever likely to be, and it still totally works thanks to the high level of songcraft and their innate weirdness, which will always come out no matter how hard they may try to keep it under wraps.

The tempos are brisk, the mood is chirpy. No, make that chirpy chirpy cheek cheek. Keep it at, though, and much, much more compelling depths soon emerge.

The band have managed to capture their live energy with ease here, and in part due to this, and the album's relentless level of glee, it can become a tiring listen. However, one can't help but admire the band's enthusiasm and the gusto in which they've gone for these songs.

The songs--period pieces, admirably researched--lack that spark that turns pastiche into profundity. [Dec 2015, p.73]