In an effort to branch out of our typical indie-folk-rock niche, we’re doing something a little different today. Something a bit more mellow and grown-up and brimming with the settled contemplative power of an award-winning composer who’s lived through commercial jingles and critical acclaim.

That’s exactly the sort of vibe you’ll find in composer-turned-vocal-expérimentateur Peter Buffett‘s latest album, Imaginary Kingdom. It’s a hard-to-classify but rather successful intersection of seeming opposites – from the keyboard magic of Pink Floyd‘s Dark Side of The Moon period to the dreamy tromp of Death Cab for Cutie.

Among the hidden gems up Buffett’s sleeve is the off-album Anything, featuring Akon, which even echoes some of Byrne & Eno‘s socially-conscious lyrical sensibility and ambient electronica.

(And from the department of interesting asides, a tidbit on the Imaginary Kingdom album cover: It was designed by LA-based artist, Lois Keller whose whimsical illustrations and paintings have graced the silos of such high-culture institutions as The Milwaukee Ballet and the Cincinnati Opera, as well as commercial darlings like Disney stores around the world.)

So go ahead, raise your own cultural brow with some music for grown-ups. It’s okay.