Graham Reid | | 1 min read
Of Montreal: Our Riotous Defects
With their falsetto funk, tongue-in-cheek humour, camp dramatics, clever dynamics, pop-smarts and outrageous sense of fun, Of Montreal out of Athens, Georgia sound like Queen or a Fame-era Bowie for the 21st century.
And if their terrific Skeletal Lamping of 2009 staked
out their distinctive ground, this silly, suggestive, sexy and
cinematic-sounding sequel just layers on the irony.
On Our Riotous Defects frontman
Kevin Barnes speak-sings his way through a fraught relationship with
a crazy girl (“I did everything I could to make you happy, I
participated in all your protests, supported your stupid little
blog . . . but still we fought, like Ike and Tina Turner in
reverse”), Coquet Coquette rides a punching Eighties rock
riff, and they also slink around in r'n'b funk (Godly Intersex),
Prince-like pop (Like a Tourist with
the memorable line “you fetishize the archetype”) and
classic ennui-filled Eighties synth-pop (Famine Affair).
Guests are Solange Knowles (Beyonce's
sister) and Janelle Monae, but you can hardly escape Barnes' literate
or funny lyrics (“you uncalibrate my skull . . . thought she was my
Annie Hall, or at least my Ali McGraw”) or the everything'n'kitchen
sink production which, remarkably, still manages to sound crisp and
danceable even when a guitar landslide arrives with backing vocals.
Two songs too long, but sign up for the fun resurrection.
You'll be dancing and laughing.
Like the sound of this? Then check out this one.
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