This collection of orchestral chamber pop tunes feels more like a musical soundtrack than a pure audio recording. Vaguely story-based songs seem poised to illustrate a plot that's never quite spelled out, and the bubbly choruses call for crowds, lifting their arms in unison for a big finale.

The songs on Burning Lighthouse appear to span several years of work, with a revolving cast of characters that includes pre-Liars Ron Albertson and Pat Noecker on drums and bass. Songwriter/keyboard player Richard Rebarber creates lush arrangements, leaning heavily on strings and incorporating trumpets and saxophones. They are mostly skillfully done, and seldom overweigh singer Lori Allison's pure, fragile soprano. At its best, the ensemble sounds a good deal like Wayward Bus-era Magnetic Fields -- richly melodic but slightly twisted. In lesser moments, as in the squirmily earnest "Ocean", Floating Opera comes off as a Sondheim knock-off, nearly tipping under the weight of its own pretensions. The most compelling tracks are sweet but not cloying, their complexity counterbalancing the overt prettiness of Roche Sisters-style harmonies. "Agnes in Furs" is the standout, strings bleeding jazzy urgency into a hooky, power-driven melody. Also good, "Shakespeare Machine" juxtaposes buzzy guitar slashes with plucked strings and the twining interplay of Chris and Lori Allison's voices, while "Shapes I Brought Back With Me" has discordant piano-plinks playing tag with mod violins and an upswept vocal chorus.

Burning Lighthouse is sometimes busy, and sometimes stagey, but it's an interesting attempt to make sounds you seldom hear in modern pop music. It's show tunes without the show, and opera floating free of the opera house, but it works surprisingly well...most of the time.