Kevin Bronson on May 10th, 2013

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If this item seems a little discombobulated, that’s because it’s … hard … to type … when … you’re … on … the floor. That might be the destination for longtime followers of Bleu, the pure pop craftsman born William James McCauley III. The Berklee-educated, magnificently sideburned songwriter, whose first four albums pretty much put him in any discerning listener’s power-pop pantheon, has undergone a metamorphosis on his fifth album, “To Hell With You.” To put it mildly. “I’ve definitely taken some creative turns,” he admits on his (wildly successful) Kickstarter page for the new album, “”¦ but at the core, it’s all heavily crafted melodic/lyric-based as usual.” On the surface, Bleu has reinvented himself as an electro producer; the new album features a duet with Alexz Johnson on “Bottom of My Heart” and guests Justin Tranter of Semi Precious Weapons and Mike Taylor on “Endwell,” which features Bleu rapping. Although it’s not as if Bleu is a stranger to the commercial pop world – he’s been an in-demand songwriter and producer for a string of top-selling acts. Earlier this year, in fact, he co-wrote and produced a song with John Oates of Hall & Oates. Still, it’s hard to parse whether “To Hell With You” (out now on Bandcamp and available physically in June) is a literal kiss-off or a whimsical to-hell-with-it. Better not to over-think. Better to get off the floor.

||| Stream: “Bottom of My Heart” and “Endwell”

||| Live: Bleu celebrates his album release with two shows: June 12 at the Hotel Cafe with Alexz Johnson and June 21 at the Hotel Cafe with Mike Taylor.