King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard have released another psychedelic folk rock tune called “Straws In The Wind.” In an accompanying music video, the group is edited via green screen into a twister.

It’s their third Anatolian Rock-influenced single they’ve released this year after “Honey” and “Some of Us.” It’s more similar to “Honey” due to its use of lead acoustic guitar but hits a midpoint between the two in terms of energy thanks to the grooving electric bass and drums.

Keyboardist/harmonica player Ambrose Kenny-Smith takes the lead on it instead of Stu Mackenzie, playing guitar and singing for a change throughout the nearly six-minute jam. The lyrics are only vaguely apocalyptic, but between the twister and the tale of travellers disappearing, continue to set a scene of desolation. The lyrics tell a four-verse no-chorus story of a traveller, “He rode in from the west with an eye for a dollar to make/He pitched us a sale about healing and oil from a snake/The barkeep, he warned him, but the man did not comprehend/How strangers ’round here disappear like straw in the wind.”

The music video was filmed, edited and directed by Jason Galgea. The band embraces the goofy concept through their reactions to the trash that gets blown all around them while they’re playing or pretending to play their instruments.

Last month, the band announced that one of their drummers, Eric Moore, who was also the band’s manager, had left the group. Now the band is down to a six member lineup. 

So far, King Gizzard hasn’t yet announced any 2020 studio albums, but early in the year they released four live albums and kept trying to play more shows sooner before settling on new 2021 dates. Three of the live albums were for Australian bushfire relief, and the other one, called Chunky Shrapnel, was the soundtrack to a concert film that has since appeared musically on streaming services.

Photo credit: Sharon Alagna