Matt Mays' When the Angels Make Contact is sort of a soundtrack -- to his own unfinished film, which seems to be some sort of a surreal tale about a drifter who takes off on a dead man's motorcycle in search of a lost love.

So, as you'd expect, it's also sort of a concept album about obsession and death and reincarnation -- though separated from the movie, it's naturally a little vague.

The Maritime rocker's third release is also sort of a solo album -- though Mays' El Torpedo drummer Tim Jim Baker co-produces and plays on most of tunes, keyboardist Robbie Crowell makes a few cameos, Buck 65 does a guest vocal and some cuts feature a full band.

But mostly, this 18-track offering is a relentlessly ambitious work that expands the fuzzed-out Crazy Horse roots-rock of Mays' last disc with moodier, messier experiments whose dusty vocals, lowslung grooves and trippy sonics are reminiscent of Beck jamming with Air.

Though, having said all that, there's no denying that 850 Commando is a big, nasty, greasy riff-rocker, while You'll Never Come Back is a noisy, bashing fever-dream of claustrophobic intensity. So when it's all said and done, the freewheeling When the Angels Make Contact is a disc that defiantly refuses to be pigeonholed.

But it still boils down to this: It's the bravest, weirdest and most exciting CD Mays has made so far.

Track Listing:

1. The Past
2. When The Angels Make Contact
3. 1 for The Motor
4. Spoonful of Sugar
5. Never Saw It Comin'
6. Officer Downe
7. Heroine
8. 850 Commando
9. The Dartmouth Soundsystem
10. Midnight Is The Time
11. You'll Never Come Back
12. The Highway Is A Scary Place
13. Under My Senses
14. When The Angles Make Contact (Reprise)
15. Rough 'N' Tumble Come Down
16. JJ's Theme
17. Morning Sun