The cover art for Rafter Roberts’ (known to friends and fans simply as Rafter) latest album, Animal Feelings, features a slinky female body wearing a lion’s head. It seems an appropriate visual for what’s on offer once you hit play: quirky indie rock, radio-friendly R&B, soulful and earnest, but not saccharine balladry.

As an up and coming musician, Rafter dabbled in both songwriting and production, working with the likes of Black Heart Procession and Rocket From the Crypt. Along the way, he amassed a treasure trove of musical influences (punk, indie, electronic) all of which he marshaled to great effect on a string of releases beginning with 2008’s well-received, Sweaty Magic. A prolific musician, Rafter also played guitar in the indie band Bunky and recorded with psychedelic folk band the Castanets.

On his fourth release for Asthmatic Kitty Records, Rafter crafts a heady, yet intimate set of songs shot through with sly humor. These 11 songs add up to an album that is at turns funky (“Paper”), anthemic (the catchy titular track) and soulful (“Feels Good”). Album opener “No F**king Around” is a slinky slice of R&B, complete with a chorus that’s beautifully mangled by a talk box. Handclap happy lead single “Fruit” – which chronicles Rafter’s courtship of his wife – shuffles along on a chugging beat and the lusty chorus “I know you love me/will you share your fruit with me?” Meanwhile, “A Frame” features insistent percussion and dissonant harmony in its slightly daffy chorus.

Next is the stomping title track, which cranks and churns through its four and a half minutes like a romping, charging animal. Throughout, trippy sonic effects swirl around Rafter as he sings about “Animal feelings and animal thoughts.”

Album highlight “Paper” is a jaunty, calypso-like song that would be perfectly radio-friendly were it not for the profane chorus at the heart of the song: “You motherf***ers, You motherf***ers where did you go.” It’s no exaggeration to say that this is the moment on Animal Feelings that sears itself onto your consciousness and resolutely refuses to leave.

Elsewhere on this easygoing, yet musically challenging album, “Timeless Form, Formless Time” (sample lyric: “get your ass out on the floor,” goes one lyric) doubles as a funky, dancefloor-ready tune and a tribute to time well spent with the one you love (“You’re my girl/and I love my girl”). Brash trumpets propel the song’s stop-start rhythm.

As the album winds to a close, the sonically harsh “Love Makes You Happy” praises love’s ability to brighten even the darkest day; but it’s not without some cynicism (“Love makes you happy/when it’s not making you sad.”) And quick to follow, album closer “Beauty, Beauty” is a cacophonous and raucous exhortation to “live in the moment/live in the now,” replete with trumpets and snatches of spoken word. It’s a fitting end to this eccentric collection.

As Animal Feelings wraps up, it feels as though we’ve just listened to an album-long manifesto. But the 11-song collection is never bullying and always accessible. Altogether, Rafter has created an eclectic collection of songs that still manage to cohere into one enjoyable whole. How about that?

Check Out:
“Paper”