With HOW TO GET YOUR LIFE RIGHT WITH WHAT’S LEFT, Australian outfit Scizzorman return from a post-pandemic hiatus with a seven-track album that embraces musical excess while maintaining an unexpectedly disciplined running time. At just over 30 minutes, the record moves rapidly through funk-rock, glam pop, psychedelia, stoner rock, swamp blues and ambient textures, creating the impression of a much larger musical landscape compressed into a single listening session. The concept emerged from observations, anecdotes and existential questions formed during a period of writer’s block, and that origin story makes sense once the album begins. Scizzorman sound like a band attempting to process an increasingly strange world by refusing to respond to it in conventional ways. Their answer is distortion, groove, satire, psychedelic atmosphere and sudden stylistic shifts.
The songwriting is driven by an interest in contemporary absurdity. “The Lesser-known (Pts 1-3)” opens the album with an unconventional introduction before “The Next Gen Is Broken” turns its attention toward generational frustration. “Narcissistic Nymphs Of The New Age” sharpens the band’s observational humor, while “Cavalcades” and “The Great Unknown” continue the journey through uncertainty and cultural commentary. “Mystical Yeast” is perhaps the clearest example of Scizzorman’s willingness to embrace the bizarre, while “Get With The Program” closes the record with a title that sounds like an instruction but could just as easily be a sarcastic challenge. Throughout the album, the lyrics appear interested in contradiction. The band recognizes the seriousness of the world around them, but they refuse to respond with predictable seriousness. Humor becomes a way of examining uncomfortable ideas rather than avoiding them.
The musical chemistry between the three core members gives the project its cohesion. Terry J Vinci’s drumming provides a strong rhythmic foundation, while his vocals deliver the album’s more outrageous lyrical moments with an appropriately theatrical edge. Cody Robson’s bass playing supplies a smoother, funkier undercurrent that prevents the heavier psychedelic passages from becoming overly dense. Stewart Herbertson’s guitar and synthesizer work provides the widest range of colors, moving between rock weight, glam brightness and atmospheric psychedelia. The contrast between the players creates much of the album’s character, particularly when the band shifts from one influence to another. Adrian Vinci’s work on the mix is equally important, bringing clarity to a production that could easily have become cluttered given the sheer number of styles being explored.
The album’s reference points are wide ranging, from Red Hot Chili Peppers and Frank Zappa to Arctic Monkeys, Talking Heads, David Bowie, The Beatles, The Dandy Warhols and Jimi Hendrix. What Scizzorman take from these artists is less a specific sound than an attitude toward musical possibility. There is funk without strict genre loyalty, psychedelia without self-seriousness, glam without restraint and stoner rock without predictability. That combination gives HOW TO GET YOUR LIFE RIGHT WITH WHAT’S LEFT its personality. The album is short enough to avoid overstaying its welcome and dense enough to reward repeat listens, with new details likely to emerge from its constantly shifting arrangements. Scizzorman have returned from a period of silence with a record that feels restless, irreverent and creatively liberated. It does not offer a neat answer to the question posed by its title, but it suggests that finding meaning might begin by refusing to accept the obvious answers.