Of Montreal Is Funking Crazy

...and Kevin Barnes wants to make you cum 200 times a day.

Allow me to introduce you to Georgie Fruit. He is a middle-aged black man who has had multiple sex-change operations. He used to be in a funk band called Arousal. He was also in prison for a while. It is through Georgie Fruit, Kevin Barne’s glitter-wearing on-stage alter ego, that the new Of Montreal album, Skeletal Lamping, is narrated.

Based on what Barnes said on his blog about the meaning behind the title Skeletal Lamping, it seems as though it would have been a more appropriate title for his 2007 album, Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?: "Lamping is the name of a rather dreadful hunting technique where hunters go into the forest at night, flood an area in light, then shoot, or capture, the animals as they panic and run from their hiding places." Where Hissing Fauna is structured as a confessional, often blunt and revealing, Skeletal Lamping is hypersexed and scatterbrained, perhaps showing brief glimpses into the hidden depths of Barnes’ psyche, but is primarily concerned with musical experimentation. If you are the kind of Of Montreal fan who loves dancing to “She’s a Rejector,” relates tragically to every word in “The Past Is a Grotesque Animal,” and sings “Your Magic is Working” to all the subjects of your indie wet dreams, Skeletal Lamping might come as a shock.

“My lover, I’ve been donating time to review all the misinterpretations that define me and you.” This first line gives away the repeated lyrical question: Who am I? Gender ambiguity and identity crises have always played into Of Montreal’s music somehow, but when Barnes allows his alter ego to take control, he ditches everything that’s PC and tender about indie rock and moves on to Tourette’s-style lyrics and an unclassifiable genre (unless there is a label for music that sounds like a schizophrenic orgy with Italian disco, Prince, the Beatles, Billy Joel, HEALTH, and the Ohio Players). This combination of influences is sometimes bizarre, yes, but the album is divided into 15 songs, each of which is divided into many 30-50 second segments, making the leaps between funk, electro, and classic rock more stomachable.

The sudden stylistic shifts throughout Skeletal Lamping cut down on the amount of time Of Montreal used to spend vamping, and as a result, this album is anything but lethargic. However, I found myself settling into grooves only to have them jarringly dropped. Of Montreal could have made three beautiful, and still conceptually interesting albums with this material if they had only separated and extended the ideas. Someone please refill Kevin Barnes’ Adderall prescription.

Approaching this album from the perspective of Georgie Fruit let Barnes release his arrogant asshole side. You think you’ve already seen Barnes’ ego parading around in couture and preaching about an ideal world in which everyone reads old, French philosophy? Well, think again. The second, and funkiest track, “Wicked Wisdom” starts off with old-school drum effects, subtle use of harmonica, and funky bass. Channeling both Prince’s attitude and vocal abilities, Barnes declares that he is “the motherfuckin’ headliner, bitch you don’t even know it.” As with many of the tracks on this album, it fizzles out by the end, this time with dissonant synthesized harpsichord arpeggios and exquisite, overlapped falsetto chanting.

I usually like it when Of Montreal takes the tempo down a little, even when it comes with a strong dose of melodrama. The two-minute-long, reverb-heavy downtempo track on Skeletal Lamping is the clear low point of the album, and as Barnes asks, “Why am I so damaged, girl? Why am I such poison, girl? I don’t know how long I can hold on if it’s gonna be like this forever” I feel my cursor hovering over the “next” arrow out of pure boredom.

The one slow jam that fits coherently into Skeletal Lamping to me is a song called “St. Exquisite’s Confessions” that could seamlessly appear in Purple Rain, and opens with Barnes singing “I’m so sick of suckin’ a dick of this cruel, cruel city” with all his heart. If you could not speak English, you would probably guess from his vocal commitment that he was speaking of a broken heart and not of metaphysical fellatio. He goes on to say, “I’ve gotten what it takes to please a woman, but that’s all gonna change. Now the freaks wanna take me home to see if the rumors are true.” There is an artful confidence about this song that makes it surprisingly exquisite, and one of the best on the album. It then progresses to showcase Barnes’ incredible ability to make the word “bitch” sound like a warm summer breeze, and ends with funky beats and distorted vocal harmonies, bringing back elements of their trademark style.

If you enjoyed some of Of Montreal’s crazier stuff in the past, you will cream yourself when this album comes out legally on October 7th. I find it to be the height of Barnes’ creativity and musical innovation, albeit in acquired taste. It is not as melodically stable, but it is captivating and extremely witty. I would rather listen to this album than much of their earlier work, and find it to be intellectually stimulating as well as unexpectedly danceable. I wish I could print every single bizarre sexual line within this album, but part of the charm of Skeletal Lamping is having the “animals” of Barnes’ subconscious jump out at you when you least expect it.

Here are a few of my favorite and harder-to-find tracks from this album:
"St. Exquisite's Confessions" (mp3)
"Wicked Wisdom" (mp3)