Kevin Barnes is a weird guy. That alone is all I would need to say to introduce this review of the latest Of Montreal review. But, I'm not that kind of guy; I quite enjoy context; Which leads me to say, there's a lot of context with Of Montreal.
The band first formed back in the early 90's as a Beatle influenced lo-fi band, with the ever popular Elephant 6 collective. A group that spawned some of the most interesting and worthwhile lo-fi acts of the 90's, Of Montreal included. But since those days in E6, Of Montreal have been transforming at an alarming rate, with albums like Sunlantic Twins, which was one of the bands first forays into electronic music, to Hissing Fauna: Are You The Destroyer? An album that took the band in a more glammed out direction. This phase of the band's evolution came to a messy, uneven head with the album False Priest, which was an LP I wholeheartedly disliked. But all was not lost, at least to me and a small group of critics, with 2011's Paralytic Stalks, which saw Barnes bringing the band's sound back to earth for over 40 minutes. Yes, that album was a bit long, but I would be lying if I said the first half of that LP still gets regular listens in my Ipod.
So all of that brings us to this new LP Lousy with Sylvianbriar; and I must say, the more focused and straightforward approach that started to show on PS is furthered and refined on LwS. In fact, this album is so focused and straightforward, that I've already seen comments that read like "old Of Montreal is back!" Which isn't far from true, though Barnes still writes lyrics from the standpoint of a bitter, defeated man who seems to have a wordy retort to just about any situation.
The album kicks off with the fantastic "Fugitive Airs" which is by far the peppiest song Barnes has written in years. This track is followed by the stellar "Obsidian Currents" and showcases LwS' greatest quality; it's beauty. Almost half the tracks on LwS are slow paced and beautifully composed pieces of glam rock, that really reminds me of T-Rex or Bowie. Of course, neither of those artists are as downright nasty as Barnes can be, with lines like "The last ten weeks have been a motherf***er" opening the track "Triumph of Disintegration."
It's clear that Of Montreal did some major thinking when it came to what direction they would take the band, or rather, the fact that Barnes isn't the main brain behind things anymore, made him rethink the way he writes songs. Either way, it has resulted in an album that is not only enjoyable for Of Montreal fans or fans of absurd music, but is legitimately great and is easily in my top 5 Of Montreal albums.
9/10
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