The Flaming Lips – “God And The Policeman” (Feat. Kacey Musgraves)

The Flaming Lips – “God And The Policeman” (Feat. Kacey Musgraves)

Way back in May, longtime Oklahoma City psych-rock travelers the Flaming Lips teamed up with an unexpected collaborator: Grammy-anointed country star and fellow LSD enthusiast Kacey Musgraves. Musgraves sang on the Lips’ single “Flowers Of Neptune 6,” and though the band hadn’t announced their new album American Head yet, that Musgraves duet was the the first single. Today, American Head is finally out. And as it turns out, there’s another song with Kacey Musgraves on there.

Musgraves is credited with backing vocals on “God And The Policeman,” the penultimate track on American Head, but the song is really more of a duet between Musgraves and Wayne Coyne. The two of them both sing over spaced-out funk basslines and tingling xylophones about being on the run from deities and from law enforcement. It’s the Flaming Lips’ operatic version of an outlaw country narrative, though it sounds more like a ’60s orchestral ballad.

“God And The Policeman” also has a brand-new video. Musgraves isn’t in it (unless she’s one of the masked extras, which seems unlikely). Instead, director George Salisbury tells an ambiguous story about Coyne being hunted down by cops for reasons that aren’t altogether clear. Check it out below.

While you’re at it, you can stream the entire American Head album below.

American Head is out now on Warner Records.

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