Album review: Miley Cyrus, Miley Cyrus and Her Dead Petz

US pop star Miley Cyrus. Photo / AP

Made it. Not having ever contemplated reviewing a Miley Cyrus album before, I've just survived repeated plays of 23 tracks of her new one since it popped out of nowhere, timed with her hosting of this week's MTV VMAs.

Yes, that interest in this one is due to the old blokes attached to the project, the Flaming Lips, in the unlikeliest studio collaboration since ... goodness ... not even five minutes of googling gets you close to this disturbance in the pop spectrum.

Here we have Cyrus, daughter of country one-hit wonder, former Disney kids' star-turned-Madonna of her generation ... and the Flaming Lips, a band who have long kept the psychedelic rock freak flag flying with a run of mad technicolour albums that have ranged from dreamy pop to sonic experimentation, often in the course of one high-orbit song.

The common ground? Well neither party have taken themselves too seriously. Or seemingly have been very good editors of their own work.

That's a bit of a problem with Dead Petz.

It has 23 tracks, many of which could have been the backbone of an intriguing single album; a few too many of which are wacky interludes - like I'm so Drunk.

And initially it is pretty surprising how well the distort-dreaminess of the Lips and that husky brat voice of Cyrus combine.

Especially near the beginning, the bass-rumbling stoned start of Dooo It! follows Karen Don't Be Sad, which reminds of the Lip's own space-ballad Yoshimi.

Of the 23 tracks, a dozen or more are Lips co-productions of co-writes. Another bunch come from other producers, like Mike Will Made-It who apparently brought grown-up edges to her previous albums and does so again on the Lana Del Ray-sounding Fweaky and the electro-pop of Lighter.

Cyrus has written and produces two tracks - the Spongebob-friendly Pablow the Blowfish and Twinkle, a mock Disney I-Had-A-Dream piano ballad that ends the set on a quietly nutty moment.

Elsewhere there are odes to everything from her dead pooch - The Floyd Song (Sunrise) - to sexual technique (Bang Me Box) to other stuff you wouldn't have expected from that gal who swung on that wrecking ball.

Given that it's a surprise unofficial release, the risk of career demolition from this left-turn is fairly slight.

There's intriguing stuff within this long ramble and Lips followers will find plenty to smile at. It might be Miley's smartest move yet. Maybe Selena Gomez's people are calling Tame Impala's people, just in case. Russell Baillie

Artist: Miley Cyrus
Album: Miley Cyrus and Her Dead Petz
Label: (Download)
Verdict: Former Disney star makes Fantasyland kind of record