Rocktober Alphabet: O is for Of Montreal

Lamp those skeletons, Kevin.

 Dissonant art rockers, pan-sexual flowering of loud, Of Montreal is simultaneously danceable,  frightening, comforting.

Really just a platform for frontman Kevin Barnes and his alter ego Georgie Fruit, the band's evolution from the odd scales and tempos of their early psychedelic nursery rhymes to the shimmering afro-euro-beat of their recent albums (Hissing Fauna, are you the Destroyer?; Skeletal Lamping; False Priest) is an odd journey in itself.


Kevin Barnes at his best is a genius of our generation, a Freddie Mercury, a David Bowie updated in a globalized music culture. He thinks musically in directions that are profoundly original, but grounded in the heritage of glam rock, hip hop and world beat. He can write, shattering the musical creative process like no musician I've ever heard.

He is frequently catchy, but not always easy to listen to. His journey may take you places that you do not wish to go, as he probes the depths of his own psyche, sexuality, identity, and interaction with a colorful, predatory world. The superficial becomes sacred for Kevin, the sacred becomes somehow superficial.

Of Montreal's world creates a rich, dangerous mythology. Digital wolves, mad scientists, twins, suicide, chasing unimpressed goats beneath Swedish plum trees.

Midway into Skeletal Lamping, Kevin croons out the lyrics of Touched Somethings Hollow:

               "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 going to be like this forever"

His music is a shout and a plea, an affirmation of the beauty and the brokenness of the human experience. Of Montreal goes places that few of us are brave enough to explore, and come back with a vivid, pantech snapshot of human desire, cruelty, fantasy, and relationship, offering listeners a unique opportunity to know, to interpret, and to love. Kevin yearns for wholeness, as he "lamps his skeletons," exposing his personal darkness.

Redemption flowers in odd places sometimes. It may not always be friendly, safe, or pleasant. But in Of Montreal, music deeply intersects with the human need for wholeness, healing, and redemption.

(photo credit)