A year on, and I'm still in awe of Embryonic. I've really found an awesome niche for it: late, late nights when I'm completely burned out, mind shut off while drifting closer to sleep one minute at a time. If it's raining outside, even better. I suggest shutting off the computer, lights, etc. Anything it takes to focus you in on the intricacies of the album, really, and you will be rewarded. It's an extraordinarily difficult album that sounds cool no matter what, but its impressive structure and the thought put into it aren't revealed until you spend some time with the album, preferably with no distractions. Wayne claims this album was created by pure happenstance, but I don't hear that at all. This is the closest they have come to creating an album-long composition, the closest most bands come to doing so.
Cooler yet is that the Flaming Lips are still capable of making an album that causes me to step back and rethink what the band is about, what they do best. It's impossible for me to ask one sound of these guys anymore, now that this album exists; they have succeeded all across the map. All I can ask for now is more of that inspiration exhibited here. I was getting worried about them, but it wasn't the sound they needed to adjust; they merely needed to loosen up and enjoy being weird again.