The Flaming Lips have a new album out early next year called Oczy Mlody, and a couple weeks ago they shared its lead single “The Castle.”
“The Castle” finds the Lips veering away from the darkness that has characterized their recent albums toward gentle, beautiful psych-pop that characterized their Soft Bulletin/Yoshimi golden era. In keeping with that dynamic, the song’s video is just one steady shot of a playfully smiling Malia Ward with some throwback Microsoft Paint produced animations. The 19-year-old San Clemente surfer is accompanied by lo-fi illustrations, as she gesture and makes facial expressions that help tell the story of the woman described in the lyrics.
How did Malia even get involved with The Flaming Lips? It was all Miley Cyrus, who also has a guest spot on Oczy Mlody album’s final track “We a Family.” Cyrus asked her good friend Malia to star as the centerpiece of the video, which in an statement to Stab, she said, "Miley asked me if I wanted to do it," Malia tells Stab. "It was so fun, it only took like 20 minutes to film!"
Watch the simple and weird as hell video below.