Of Montreal
Skeletal Lamping
Polyvinyl
By Mike Randall
Prior to acclimating yourself with Skeletal Lamping, the latest mind-fuck from Athens, Georgia’s Of Montreal, there are some things you should know. First, it’s a record that is comprised of songs only in and of the fact there are tracks and they have names. In actuality, there are songs within songs – often several times over – and there is little connection between one idea and another to the point many of the fragments don’t even sound like they were recorded by the same band. Furthermore, if the name Georgie Fruit doesn’t ring a bell, it will within one spin. First introduced on Hissing Fauna, mastermind Kevin Barnes brings his apparent fantasies to life through Fruit, an African-American-70s-R&B-singer-alter-ego whose experiences in prison led him to become a woman.
With Georgie Fruit as his guise, Barnes delivers lyrics that would make Ziggy Stardust blush. “We can do it soft-core if you want but you should know I take it both ways,” Barnes sings during “For Our Elegant Caste,” grounded by a serpentine bass line that winds its way through a circus of disco-funk and electro-pop. It’s a good thing Barnes is filtering his thoughts through another persona because it might be tough to stomach a married father delivering lines like, “You know I would’ve given it up to anyone who had a little money and was sweet to me” (“And I’ve Seen A Bloody Shadow”) or using a Prince falsetto to utter “I’m so sick of sucking the dick of this cruel, cruel city,” as he does during the soul romp that is “St. Exquisite’s Confessions,” which features a psych-trance organ interlude that is not to be missed. From gang-bangs (“Women’s Studies Victims”) to accepting felatio to prove one’s straightness (“Beware Our Nubile Miscreants”) to Oedipus-Rex-role-play (“Plastis Wafer;” lines of note: “I want to make you ejaculate until it’s no longer fun” and
“I want you to be my pleasure puss/I want to know how it feels to be inside you”), Barnes does not hold anything back.
Even when he’s not singing of sex you can feel it behind the door of a stall or around a dark corner as if you’re about to step in its remnants. Any boundaries that existed with their breakthrough, Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? have melted away to form a record that ebbs-and-flows like Pet Sounds on ecstasy. Without giving it a second thought, Barnes can morph piano-pop with psychedelic classic rock on top of a club groove (“Nonpareil of Favor”), down-tempo R&B with Beatle-esque Baroque pop (“Wicked Wisdom”) or upbeat classical piano spruced up with a horn section (“An Eluardian Instance”). They’re like the Scissor Sisters with a much more advanced sense of melody and composition, and Barnes has the warped mind that wouldn’t be unlikely in a mental collision between Brian Wilson and Wayne Coyne.
In doing press for Skeletal Lamping, Kevin Barnes revealed he doesn’t always take his medication for chronic depression because he like the roller-coaster effect it has on his day-to-day being. That clearly channels into his music, and although the result is maddening, it’s quite a fun journey if you’re up for the ride. With its elaborate stage shows full of costumes and unexpected and often lewd shenanigans, Of Montreal has become a P-Funk for an indie set that likes to relieve its tension in a parallel universe. If you’re going to hop on this mother ship, be sure to leave any sensibilities or inhibitions at home.
|
