At first glance of the album artwork for “PersonA,” Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros’ fourth studio album, fans felt uncertain. Edward Sharpe, the name of frontman Alexander Ebert’s old stage persona, is crossed out in red spray paint, leaving behind only “The Magnetic Zeros.” The background resembles a facial schema, a sort of gloomy mask, either entering the scene or fading away into oblivion. Listener beware, this is a risk-taking, unapologetic album of discomfort, of shaking things up, of changing one’s persona.

“PersonA” starts off with the seven minute single “Hot Coals,” the reason for the album’s explicit warning. It’s a rollicking piano melody mixed with swirling horns and a church organ, likely written in the honor of past Magnetic Zero, Jade Castrinos, who left the group somewhere between “PersonA” and their most recent self-titled album of 2013. Second track “Uncomfortable” is just that: it has a palpable pulse, a beat of a drum that resonates like an uprising in a town square. It’s more of a failed revolution than a song. The theme of this track evokes earlier hit “Man on Fire,” which calls on people to come out of their comfort zones, to abandon any tradition, and to “burn like old big suns” and “come dance with me.”

This hippyish group has taken some interesting turns in the last few years. They played at a rally for Bernie Sanders; in fact, Ebert wrote a song in Sander’s honor titled “Feel the Bern.” They worked with actress Olivia Wilde to direct the music video for fourth track “No Love Like Yours,” the predictable piano infused jangly song this album needed. The video was filmed entirely on an iPhone, feel free to watch it here.  It’s a disorienting four minutes, opening on a funeral procession in which the mourners are actually dancing, and then Ebert enters his own coffin. Despite the confusion, the video is worthy of praise for the spirited dancing and the ambiguous images that prevent further analysis. Ebert also created the video for “Free Stuff” on an iPhone; it is simply him lipsyncing along to the happy hand clapping beat and marching down his sunny street. The band also opened up a pop-up gallery to commemorate “PersonA,” hosting all sorts of solo artists and a masquerade listening party upon the album’s release.

Besides some of the band’s more artsy and confusing endeavors, they are settling down. Ebert has a daughter of his own, sweet Eartha, with longtime girlfriend Roehm Hepler-Gonzalez. He sings about ‘baby Ebert’ on “Somewhere,” an airy acoustic song with a lamentable autotune handclap. There is also the soft, childlike “Lullaby” that recalls the theme to the Pixar animation Toy Story.

“PersonA” brings nothing new to the table musically, frankly it is a strained effort at times. For example, the lyrics to “Perfect Time” are skewed, and the somber spookiness of “Let It Down” lets listeners down. Yet, this album finds its redemption with final track “The Ballad of Yaya,” a high-spirited sunny jangle with the harmonious horn line and the jovial rhythm that listeners expect from the Zeros. It is easy to detect influences from The Flaming Lips and The Polyphonic Spree with the unexpected twists and psychedelic atmosphere of this track.

The group kicked off their tour for “PersonA” at Coachella in Indio, California, a fitting location for this hippie-renaissance-like-collective. Midwest fans will be glad to know that they can catch ESMZ live at Harrah’s in Council Bluffs, IA on May 21st.