2 out of 5

Label: Skin Graft Records

Produced by: Miss Pussycat

On LMNOP, Miss Pussycat – organizer of the Flossie and the Unicorns puppet show – was able to craft a bizarre but listenable oddity, hashing together a jumbled set of narratives, delivered via goofy voices and maybe audio manipulation, overlain with / interspersed with kitschy and electro musical doodles. It’s not an everyday album, but it’s appreciable outsider art, and entertains with a crooked smile.

The Animals’ Clubhouse seems to follow suit, and maybe one-up things a bit with opening track The Bee’s Secret Formula, as the writing seems aged up slightly – a little more self-aware – and is, overall, more focused, hopping between story and music well. But thereafter, the album tends to lean more into a sketch vibe than anything else, with the music truly becoming incidental – rare – and the narratives either just kind of thin, without much happening (Ghost TV), or maybe a bit too self-aware, with the music industry needling of Magic Crystal Records a tad eye-rolly. The closing title track is a stronger effort, more similar to Bee’s, but it also kind of trails off near its conclusion, when it should be getting good.

A swear-heavy secret track from a phone conversation should clarify that this is not a kid’s record.