Pipe Defy (Opaque Orange LP)

For the first time since 2021, Pipe-eye, the moniker for Australian musician, singer and songwriter Cook Craig (King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, The Murlocs), releases a brand new LP titled Pipe-defy.

With nods to the venerable influences of funk and 70s/80s synth dance classics, Pipe-defy is a stylistic departure from his previous albums. For this project, Craig explains wearing his influences on his sleeve; "At around the time that I was starting to write songs for the album, my mum gave me a bunch of old CDs from my early teens that I hadn't listened to in ages. There was heaps of Grandmaster Flash, Herbie Hancock, Zapp, Stevie Wonder and other stuff like that. When I kept writing songs they kinda just started sounding like that… so I guess it kinda just kick started an old obsession I had for that style of music." This is particularly evident as each track beckons listeners to lose themselves in a tapestry of mesmeric synth rhythms, sobering orchestra hits and foot tapping, knee slapping, hand clapping groove.

Pipe-defy stands as a testament to Craig's resolve to explore new aesthetics with each new release, furthering his quest to push himself to into new song-writing terrain. "When I was writing the songs for the album, (which I had about 20 of), if I wasn't bopping my head subconsciously to it, then it was cut."