Megapuss: Surfing

Devendra Banhart has never hurt for an outlet to

address his weirdest impulses— after all, this is an artist whose regular

albums have no problem absorbing lyrics about psychedelic squids and marriage

to little boys—but he goes quite a bit weirder than usual in Megapuss. The name accounts for

the collaboration between Banhart and Priestbird's Greg Rogove, both of whom

sing and bang out a nimble mix of time-tucked rock on a debut album with lots

of strange, surprising rewards.

It isn't long before Banhart trills in service of

fanciful creatures in "Duck People, Duck Man," a song that could have been sung

by those Spongmonkey things in the Quiznos commercials. But just as prominent

on Surfing

is a sense of musical adventurousness more engrossing than any on Banhart

albums in the past. Rock (not folk) from the 1960s sets the scene in many of

the best songs with electric guitars and full-on drums, and then little ideas

creep in—like an ingenious guitar solo that pays tribute to Wham (in "Adam

& Steve") and haunting impressions of "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" buried

beneath the verses of "Hamman."

The all-over aesthetic doesn't always work: The

title track sounds like warmed-over Animal Collective in ambient repose, and

then toss-offs like the 25-second "Mister Meat (Hot Rejection)" make too little

of the notion of singing from the vantage point of a penis. But then the

bewitching mood of highlights like the piano ballad "Sayulita" swoop down and

save the day.