Malajube — Labryinthes

Malajube returns with an even more idiosyncratic, off-kilter pop masterpiece after 2006's Trompe L'Oeil proved that Montreal's francophone rock community was just as capable of cracking the worldwide marketplace as its anglo counterpart.

Opening track "Ursuline" is a difficult-to-penetrate six-minute epic with sparse vocals. The tracks that follow continue to baffle and astound with unconventional structuring and pacing, long instrumental sections and a blending of musical styles that would seem ludicrous on paper.

Album highlight "Casablanca" begins as a light tropical summer tune and then explodes with a guitar and choral chanting outro before it quickly segues into hard rocking album centrepiece "333." The '60s psychedelic pop of "Luna" is the closest the LP gets to something single-friendly, but Labyrinthes is at its best when Malajube play it by ear and explore lush musical panoramas with little regard for hooks or conventions.

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