Of Montreal is known for a lot of things: ridiculously nonsensical songs with absurd titles, songs centered around specific, tangible characters, bizarre Outback Steakhouse commercials, and lately, synth-laden, hook-heavy, irresistible dance melodies, all wrapped-up into some incredible packaging. Their latest offering, Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? , takes all of these previous Of Montreal calling cards into consideration, and turns them into something completely new.

At first, this album sounds relatively similar to the band’s last record, Sunlandic Twins. It’s got those same hooks that you can’t get out of your head, goofy vocal inflections, and beats to make you move. Those ridiculous song titles are still here (try saying "We Were Born The Mutants Again With Leafling" three times fast). The artwork is some of the coolest I’ve ever seen: four semicircular flaps open up to reveal the prize inside, with another cardboard disc in there for credits and thank-yous.

Upon repeated listens, though, you start to realize that something has changed. Underneath that danceable indie-pop veneer lurks a lyrical personality that has gone through some serious hard times since the last time we heard from him. One song starts with the lines "I spent the winter on the verge of a total breakdown while living in Norway/ I felt the darkness of the black metal bands" which is perhaps a silly way to put it, but still, that’s not something we would have expected to hear on an album like Satanic Panic in the Attic.

The whole record has a decidedly autobiographical slant, eschewing the vivid character-driven narratives of previous work for a surprisingly personal exploration of pain, loss, frustration, and heartbreak. Of Montreal frontman and band leader Kevin Barnes and his wife had briefly seperated, and he went through an intense period of isolation in Norway, where these songs were born. Even without even needing to know the details, though, it is clear that something has affected him deeply.

Almost surprisingly, then, with such heavy themes to deal with, this is not a record carried by its lyrics alone. Whether or not one ever takes the time to decipher what Barnes is really trying to say in this set of tunes, it is simply an incredible listen. By far Of Montreal’s most ambitious and diverse album to date, we do hear the disco-throwback synth hooks, odd samples, and psych-pop undertones of recent efforts, but plenty of other influences peek their heads out, as well.

One song features some surprisingly Queen-like harmonies. One is a Scissor Sisters-esque bedroom jam. The one right after it keeps making me think of the Flaming Lips. And then there is the album’s centerpiece--the twelve-minute monolithic "The Past Is A Grotesque Animal." This track broods, moans, confuses, and still somehow never once gets boring.

To top it all off, although each song is great, the record is clearly intended to be heard as a whole – songs bleed into each other, reference each other, and keep going over the span of more than one track.

There is no downtime on this record, no tracks I want to skip; in mix-tape terms, this disc is "all up." Combine that with the new revelations that keep surfacing after each listen, and there’s no way this is getting out of my head. It’s been stuck in my car’s CD player for about a month now, and it’s showing no signs of budging.