Boy

Calling this her “pop” album, indie-avant-garde rocker Carla Bozulich stakes out territory that's more accessible than some of her other work, yet abstract enough to charm the fans who love hearing her reconstruct the way music is often made. Boy rumbles though the jumbled performances as if Brian Eno had gotten ahold of some gospel-blues, Appalachian folk, and electronic music and theorized his way to the other side. This experiment is largely written, produced, and executed by Bozulich and familiar partner John Eichenseer. Together, they create the ghosts of “Danceland,” where no couples dare occupy the dance floor, though as the song rises from a whisper it sounds like a film noir soundtrack ordered by David Lynch and Tom Waits. “Ain’t No Grave” (with its moves of gospel damnation), “One Hard Man” (a Nick Cave/PJ Harvey–like apocalypse), “Drowned to the Light," “What Is It Baby” (with demon-dark soda-shop cadences), and “Deeper Than the Well” are conventional by Bozulich’s standards. Which is to say, “pop” music fans will still find it all plenty weird, as Bozulich surely secretly intends.