On The Download: Janelle Monae’s Radical Robot R&B

Janelle Monae’s first full-length studio album at Warner Bros. Records / Bad Boy, “The ArchAndroid,” asks a lot of its listeners. An hour and eight minutes for its 18 tracks, suspension of disbelief for a narrative about an android city, and a diverse enough taste for film score overtures, Gnarls Barkley-esque futuristic R&B, neo-soul, ‘60s psych-rock and jazz balladry – amongst other genres.

It’s ambitious stuff for a debut album, but Monae bears the burden on her slim shoulders with apparent ease. As the video for its first single, “Tightrope,” showcases, the singer is an electric performer on stage and on record, as able at breathy ballads (the closing “BaBopByeYa”) as she is on dance floor grooves (“Cold War”) and even the occasional rap verse.

“The ArchAndroid” tests limits in its unsteady second half when it tries on the weirdo psych of “Mushrooms & Roses” and the sugar-high Of Montreal collaboration “Make The Bus,” but Monae’s roller-coaster moves quickly enough to keep any single stumble from derailing the album.

More so than many of her R&B or hip-hop-world contemporaries (OutKast’s Big Boi served as executive producer and guests on “Tightrope”), Monae not only sets out to push boundaries – “The ArchAndroid” acts like they don’t even exist. Parts of her “Metropolis”-influenced robo-journey may be bumpier than others, but the album’s ride into the future is nothing but thrills.

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