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Of Montreal
Every journalist wants to talk to Kevin Barnes …
Listen to the operatic, rapid-fire, maniacal nursery-rhyme odyssey of the Of Montreal lead-singer’s early sugar-fuzz overloads like Cocquelicot Asleep in the Poppies and The Gay Parade and you wouldn't blame any blue collar reporter for wanting to wrap his keyboard-tapping hands around the unfathomable, always-wandering mind of this auteur of revolutionary bubblegum-psychedelic hybrids. The problem is neo-dancefloor-conquests like the electrically-charged, hyper-pulsed Sunlandic Twins (2005) transformed this once Kinks-ian folk-pop, Athens, GA-based group into highly in-demand darlings of the world stage. Something the 19-year-olds can do a mock-ecstasy-dance to at all-ages shows and all of a sudden European tours are as common as ironing button shirts the morning after strapping fake angel wings on your back from last night's show.
Everybody forgets the brilliant but casually lingering mind of Of Montreal guitarist Bryan Poole, who tenured in Elf Power, helped spur the Elephant 6 label collective (in Athens) and marshaled his own solo project, the transcendent, stately-McCarthy-leaning pop-rock of The Late B.P. Helium. The right path toward getting a warm, personal, intimate look into the inner-workings of this (albeit Barnes-dominated) consortium is to galvanize the mind of the man who was there at its inception (in bloody 1997).
How is life after Sunlandic and Hissing Fauna?
Being away so much means I've lost contact with a lot of dear friends. So, living like a nomad is the norm. The band is like a family, so there is fighting and bickering, but we are still a family. Admittedly, one has to fight from being jaded. Don't you hate jaded rock stars? We don't take our fans for granted.
Does tension arise regarding Kevin's vision?
There is still tension to a degree, but there is no doubt this is Kevin's band. He writes and arranges all of the songs, and fairly often plays everything as well. He's kind of like Prince — extremely prolific and capable of doing everything himself. Kevin has already written the next record. We are recording the album as a full band this January in Athens. The real joy is just singing with Kevin. Our voices work very well together. One of the first things we ever did together was stay up late and try to sing as many Everly Brothers songs as possible. When Kevin and I play acoustic shows, we get to bond with one another just like the old days. I do miss the innocence of the early days when we were a cute little three-piece.
Satanic Panic in the Attic?
I was so pleased with that album. [Kevin] turned the corner there. I think the style of the earlier records had its place and I enjoyed them, but at times it had no personal relevance to me. Lyrically, he has moved to more mature, if somewhat dark and perverse, matters of the heart, literal mind and subconscious.
And The Late B.P. Helium?
[It] came about after I began to get severely depressed on my last tour with Elf Power. I began to feel I was being less creative with the band and so I quit. I had dreams about Elf Power for months afterwards. I'm sure that would happen again today if I left Of Montreal. But I am more conscious of it now and try to keep myself grounded. | RDW
Of Montreal • October 9 • Majestic Theatre
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