“Black Girls,” the first song on Grampall Jookabox’s Ropechain, sums up the album remarkably well. The song begins with lilting, processed vocals that swoon overtop of pounding drums and a loose, bouncing bass line. Unfortunately, just after the song piques the listener’s interest, David Adamson sings in a bluesy rasp, “Black girls walk on tips of mountains/ Jump in seas like they was fountains/ Convincing the Earth to turn around again,” effectively robbing his own song of some of its considerable momentum with his ridiculous lyrics.

Throughout Ropechain, Adamson routinely crafts interesting, bizarre songs — think Animal Collective meeting the Flaming Lips by way of early Beck — that are weakened by his ineptitude with the pen. On “The Girl Ain’t Preggers,” the relentless bounce and beautiful harmonies are almost overcome by Adamson proclaiming, “I love a baby mouth/ I love a baby mouth/ I want to hear the baby talk.” On “You Will Love my Boom,” a thunderous, ramshackle rhythm is saddled with holding up the lines, “I took mushrooms and then proposed to you/ Because I love you, love you.”

It’s clear that Adamson has no problem crafting compelling music, he just can’t write a decent lyric to save his life. Provided the continuous stream of stoner-speak nonsense can be stomached, though, Ropechain provides a lot to like.