King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Paper Mâché Dream Balloon (2015)

Starting out in 2010 as a solid garage rock group, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard followed their collective muse wherever it chose to lead them. For their latest opus, Paper Mache Dream Balloon, they initially thought it was going to be filled with the darker, heavier material that the band has been playing live of late. But front man Stu Mackenzie soon decided that it was time to put aside the longer, more conceptual pieces and go in a completely new direction.

On previous records King Gizzard has channeled many different sounds: From heavily distorted, kraut-driven rock on their 2014 album I'm In Your Mind Fuzz to expansive, almost jazzy, Dead-like head trips on Quarters! Or as Mackenzie puts it, "I always wanted to be a band where you would expect the unexpected each time, with each album being treated like a different phase."

Hence, the band's seventh album was recorded using nothing but acoustic instruments. Mackenzie elaborated on this with: "Acoustic guitars, flute, double bass, fiddle, harmonica, drum kit, clarinet. Whatever we could find really."

The result is a lovely, lilting pop masterpiece that still evokes the same intoxicating exuberance as KGATLW's most recent work, but with a more pastoral, communal feel.