J.A.N.E.

Like most concept albums, the supposed story told on The Cemetery Improvement Society’s J.A.N.E. has tenuous connections to the music. Apart from a fake journal on the band’s website and the sample-heavy “public service announcements” that provide infomercials about prostitutes, listeners are going to have to work hard to follow the tale of Jane, a woman who starts the largely instrumental album as a wild party girl and ends it as a pimp murderer. But that’s no matter. The Cemetery Improvement Society travels in atmosphere more than narrative anyway; the Madison Area Music Award-winning band creates swirling, smoking electronica that billows like poisonous gas out of a sewer grate.

J.A.N.E. is a tighter album than the group’s award-winning debut Lonely Dog Island, perhaps owing to the addition of Brad Hawes on drums—he replaces guitarist Russell Paul as Marc Claggett’s full-time running mate. Hawes’ live drumming gives these songs an added organic dimension, particularly on early tracks like the swelling “Behind the Green Door” and the ever-climbing “Pretty.” Claggett’s dank production and wire-snapping seven-string guitar work have gotten stronger too; he can evoke G-Funk on way harder drugs (“Dirty Blade,” “Hospital”), and then sound like a totally bummed-out Throbbing Gristle with better sound equipment (“Line” and “Work”).

While some bands might try to spread out the dark and relentless push of J.A.N.E. over the course of a couple albums, CIS goes for broke, banging out 19 songs in an hour. That much skittering electronica can sometimes make the album (especially in the latter third) feel like a dreary afternoon spent in a malfunctioning electronics store, but J.A.N.E. is sure to be one of the most sonically adventurous Madison albums released this year.