Zach Mason’s “The Funky Martians” is perhaps the most hilarious, exhilarating first contact with E.T.s, blending humor with brilliant storytelling for a new, exciting narrative. At once, the vocals come in in carefree, upbeat fashion, blending sci-fi cheesiness with the startling, humorous impact that defines the rest of the EP it sets out upon.

The track opens with the usual sci-fi setup: the spaceship landing on the Martian planet. Mason builds this in simple, easy-to-follow language, creating the picture of the tranquil, unpopulated Martian landscape. However, as the red dust clears, Martians emerge—not friendly, not inquiring, but enraged. Here, Mason skillfully branches out of the situation of friendly contact, maintaining the implication in the air that human beings could well be in for the worst. Tension is established, but no epic battle at the end of the story; Mason subverts the setup in comedic fashion with the slipup of one of the young men of the crew called Johnny, whose mishap runs the whole scenario in reverse. This reversal — defusing the perilous scenario in the guise of accidental slipup — supplies the comedic tone that characterizes the track.

Telling is the other fundamental function of the music theme. Johnny’s error of flipping the wrong switch and obtaining the funky sounds as opposed, say, to weapons is at the same time humorous, but endearing. It converts the potential debacle into party of shock. Mason employs this theme for masterly advantage, demonstrating the potential of something as ordinary as, well, music, in unifying the most disparate of beings. Flip-floppery of the Martians’ position — from menaces, to dancing menaces — is goofy, but it is the universe Mason has created all too well. It drives the message of the song home: errors, at time, yield the best of all, in this case, joy.

When, in the second verse, the Martians burst into dance and chant as the funky beats come on, Mason’s descriptions are rich but brief, letting everyone in the room picture the tall, thin Martians moving to the beat. This is as much comical as it is strangely clean sight. It shows the power at which war and fear can become unity when one has found a shared pulse of feeling. Mason’s inability to turn this moment sombre or heavy, as it could well remain, keeps the narrative speed going without the narrative ever seeming too dark or too stern.

The last verse amplifies the humor further. With peace agreed upon, the inhabitants set out to establish their colony, but it comes with one condition — the people need to keep playing the funky tune all the time to keep the Martians in the highest spirits. Mason is utilizing this episode to drive his point of the optimal of the solutions the drawback attached to it being the best. The people tire of the songs, but need to continue playing all the time. This is the ironic turn this story receives without robbing the humor of it. This is the intelligent way of concluding the story, with Mason invoking the notion of peace costing the comical, unforeseen price.

Zachary Mason employs conversational speech, rhyming, as well as meter to maintain the lyric humorous as well as humorous throughout in “The Funky Martians.” Repeating choruses, along with brief, carefree verses, maintain the whole piece likably carefree as well. Effective employment of humor, character, as well as the preposterous sci-fi set conditions as the individual’s own personal musical narrative, humorous as well as unforgettable. Overall, the lyric is the new, exciting space-exploration take, demonstrating Mason’s mastery at the story in lyric terms.