Martin Carr — the restless creative mind behind The Boo Radleys and Bravecaptain — is back, and he’s brought along the strangest, most adventurous record of his career. The Cardiff-based songwriter, guitarist, filmmaker, and graphic artist will release his new solo album, “What Future,” on May 1st via his own Sonny Boy Records, and if the title track is anything to go by, longtime fans should brace themselves for a thrilling left turn.

Gone are the suave, sophisticated pop structures that earned his last album “New Shapes of Life” a Pitchfork rave and a 9/10 from CLASH. In their place: distracted beats, messy electronics, and a sonic palette that finally matches the low-grade dread Carr has been writing about for thirty-five years. As he puts it himself, “All my lyrics over the past thirty-five years have been about the same thing — ‘What’s Wrong With Me?’ — but this time I decided to show, not tell.”

The result is something genuinely unclassifiable. Carr cites RZA, Prefuse 73, Pole, King Tubby, Vernon Elliot, and Eden Ahbez as touchstones — a guest list that should tell you everything about how far he’s wandered from the Britpop guitar pop he helped define. Tracks are built from fragments: an isolated McCartney bassline lifted from Abbey Road, a snatch of The Pretty Things’ “SF Sorrow,” even the voice of a scrap-metal van rolling through his Cardiff neighbourhood doing its best Mark E. Smith impression. “I make a huge mess,” Carr explains, “then I start chipping away at it until it starts to sound like something.”

Early word is strong — MOJO has already handed the album a 4/5 review — and the self-directed animated video for the title track is streaming now on YouTube. Watch it here: https://youtu.be/lFOVkI2tNrQ

“What Future” arrives May 1st via Sonny Boy Records. Pre-save it, mark your calendar, and prepare to have your expectations cheerfully dismantled.