Frankie Rose – Cage Tropical album review: Tips the right side of eccentricity

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that Frankie Rose was not in the best place while writing her fourth album. Having returned to her hometown of Los Angeles after years in Brooklyn, an unspecified "drama" found her contemplating a future without music.

That fraught spell is captured in lyrics about "wasting her life" and such, but the music is altogether less angsty, if not a little strange. A thread of John Carpenter-esque shimmering sci-fi synths runs through songs like the gurgling Dyson Sphere, the krautrock wig-out on Trouble is fantastic and Dancing Down the Hall could slot into an episode of Twin Peaks effortlessly.

The weirdness and paranoia is tempered by the off-kilter groove of Red Museum, which sounds like old school, offbeat Madonna. The whole thing just about tips the right side of eccentricity. Frankierose.info

Download: Red Museum, Trouble