Bipolaroid has always been a lot less psychedelic than advertised. Until now. Previously a mishmash of psychedelic surface signifiers borrowed from Syd Barrett, the band now sounds seriously disorienting on Illusion Fields. Multiple simultaneous blues guitars make a big interesting mess around lead singer Ben Glover’s hard to discern, droning nasal slur—a very wasted-sounding voice. Drums, provided by local garage rock purveyor King Louie Bankston, bash away without ever really kicking in, adding another layer of unique tension. The album is wonderfully recorded, belying that every strange move has been made on purpose.To compare the band’s new style to another semi-famous local: Illusion Fields is to rock ’n’ roll what MC Trachiotomy is to rap.

None of this is meant to say Illusion Fields (a name seemingly copped from the post-Katrina spoken-word band led by N.O. poet Moose Jackson) isn’t good. Rather than trudge the good-time, party-hardy path followed by almost every other band in the city, Bipolaroid have chosen to make an artistic statement. And true art is not always necessarily pleasing. In the case of Illusions Fields, it’s often unsettling and interesting rather than groovy. Despite an upbeat appearance by the Egg Yolk Jubilee horn section, and the fact that the almost exclusively vinyl album was paid for by donations on the populist fundraising website Kickstarter.com, it’s hard to tell who in New Orleans would actually “like” this warped music. Still there’s no denying that Glover and company have created good art that is uniquely strange and, in its own way, beautiful.