.Of Montreal

Skeletal Lamping

For more than a decade now, singer-songwriter Kevin Barnes has been
a fountainhead of pop hooks, and his band, Of Montreal, has been the
interpretive machine that’s kept it all interesting. No matter the
context, Barnes’ melodies have always been the stars. They tend to be
wonderful, inviting you to sing along with the force of a Queen anthem,
or a Kinks ode to the British countryside. So, if this perennial indie
band from Athens, Georgia, managed to break out as a mainstream pop
force, it would make sense. And given the advance buzz for Skeletal
Lamping, the band’s ninth album, this seems to be its best shot yet.
Until you listen to it.

From track one, the dense, new wave/thrash suite “Nonpareil of
Favor,” it’s clear that Barnes doesn’t give a damn about pop success.
As the album unfolds, it sounds like he’s deliberately mocking, doing
everything he can to freak out Ryan Seacrest’s radio audience. Skeletal
Lamping eschews love songs in favor of erotic rallying cries, delivered
by Barnes’ alter ego, Georgie Fruit. Themes of sexual openness as a
unifying force abound, promoting a type of esteem-building carnality
that would make Alfred Kinsey proud. Much of the album segues together,
but many of the changes are deliberately awkward, jarring the listener
as the next song begins. And these wild shifts also occur within the
songs themselves.

As a provocative, spelunking voyage into our sexual consciousness
and a kaleidoscopic middle finger to mainstream pop, Skeletal Lamping
is certainly intriguing. But without those classic Barnes hooks
propelling it, the album would be a mere curiosity. Thankfully, there’s
no shortage of them — you could even argue that there are too
many. These tunes are so crowded and schizophrenic, they’ll only reveal
themselves to the patient and demanding listener. Fantastic moments,
like the electro-funk intro to “Wicked Wisdom,” shimmer and fade, never
to be heard again. Skeletal Lamping is ambitiously catchy and possesses
strong lineage — the Ziggy Stardust role-playing, the
Beatlesesque melodies, the piano groove from “Sympathy for the Devil,”
the inspired dissonance of the Pixies, Prince’s come-hither falsetto
— so there’s a good chance it will blow you away. If you have the
time, that is. (Polyvinyl Records)

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