8/10

Few bands seem as comfortable with unpredictability as Ungus Ungus Ungus, and 'The Fun House' finds them leaning fully into that instinct. Across their seventh studio album, the Naarm/Melbourne-centred collective treat genre as more of a suggestion than anything else, moving between freak folk, dub, electro swing, hip-hop, drum and bass and ambient music with a sense of mischief that feels entirely their own.

The title is also very apt. 'The Fun House' is designed like a fairground ride, full of abrupt turns, warped reflections and moments where the floor seems to shift beneath you. Yet despite the stylistic jumps, there's a clear commitment to rhythm, movement and live energy holding everything together.

‘Funlerable’ sets the tone with circus-organ textures and a darker theatrical edge, balancing joy against fragility in a way that feels central to the album’s wider philosophy. While ‘Poltergeist’ pushes that theatricality further, beginning in cabaret territory before accelerating into something much more frantic.

From there, the record keeps mutating. ‘Dr Quiet’ sinks into atmospheric dub, while ‘Wishes Three’ moves towards a more conceptual funk groove. ‘Secret Track’ introduces Flash Poetry into a looser, more subdued space before ‘Sauna Swing’ and ‘Move’ rebuild the momentum, the latter bringing FemCee into one of the album’s most explicitly physical moments.

But what makes the record work is that Ungus Ungus Ungus understand the difference between eclecticism and incoherence. These shifts are dramatic, but the band approach each one with enough conviction that the album feels like a sequence of connected rooms rather than a pile of unrelated ideas.

The closing instrumental ‘Beginnings’ is especially effective for that reason. After all the noise, motion and colour, it offers a softer landing built from warm synths and a more meditative sense of space.

Boisterous, strange and impressively fluid, 'The Fun House' captures Ungus Ungus Ungus at their most uninhibited. It's an album that embraces the mess of life without losing sight of pleasure, proving once again that this band are at their best when the rules start to bend.