of Montreal have released their new track titled ‘Peace To All Freaks’ to the masses. And the masses will be pleased. The track is catchy as catchy can be with an über-catchy (enough catchies?) mix of complicated yet catchy (again) synth lines and a vocal overtone that more than compliments the music, it shows the drive and mind of the musicians at the helm. Think prime ELO, a touch of Duran Duran and Pet Shop Boys, and throw that in a blender and sprinkle of modern originality and relevance and you have oh Montreal in a nutshell.
The message is even more grande in that love should conquer all that is self-serving in this world, whether it be totalitarianism, class struggles, and much more. So, when you hear the song, listen to the lyrics and clench your fist with a smile on your face.
About of Montreal & ‘UR FUN’
of Montreal is back, and on UR FUN, Kevin Barnes is more candid than ever. The public diary that started with classic album Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? and earned love from The Guardian, Pitchfork, NME, SPIN, etc. has continued into a growing string of increasingly personal works. After several albums recorded with collaborators and various band members, Barnes opted to record this one completely alone.
In his home studio in Athens, Georgia, Barnes isolated himself in creative hibernation, working obsessive 12-plus hour days arranging manic synth and drum machine maps on a computer screen with bouncy, melodic basslines, glam guitars, and layered vocal harmonies. The result is ten concise electro-pop songs that expose the depths of his current life, his private thoughts—both optimistic and brooding—and his passionate relationship with songwriter Christina Schnieder.
of Montreal have announced their new album UR FUN via Polyvinyl Record Co. Listen to the first track and single “Peace To All Freaks,” described by Kevin Barnes as a “protest song against totalitarianism, familial terrorism and wastefulness in all its forms,” that expresses love to the outcasts and the gentle people in this world, leaving us with this reminder: “Hush, hush/ Don’t let’s be cynical/ don’t let’s be bitter/ If you feel like you can’t do it for yourself then do it for us.”
Kevin and Christina make out in a car at the airport, flipping off the police officer that tells them to keep moving. Kevin and Christina discuss taking ecstasy as couple’s therapy. Kevin and Christina break down and then reconnect. The new love we heard about on the last of Montreal record, White is Relic/Irrealis Mood, is settling. If that was the falling-in-love record, then this is the staying-in-love record. That was the easy part; this is the interesting part, the challenging part, the next chapter of Kevin Barnes’ autobiographical album streak, UR FUN.
@xxofMontrealxx [rotatingtweets screen_name=’xxofMontrealxx’]The public diary that started with of Montreal’s classic album Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? has continued into a growing string of increasingly personal works. On UR FUN, Barnes is more candid than ever, presenting ten concise electro-pop songs that expose the depths of his current life, his private thoughts—both optimistic and brooding—and his passionate relationship with songwriter Christina Schnieder of Locate S,1. This ramped-up vulnerability has inspired Barnes to strip his stage persona of costumes and drag, just appearing as himself on recent tours for the first time in many years.
After several albums recorded with collaborators and various band members, Barnes opted to record this one completely alone. In his home studio in Athens, Georgia, Barnes isolated himself in creative hibernation, working obsessive 12-plus hour days arranging manic synth and drum machine maps on a computer screen with bouncy, melodic basslines, glam guitars and layered vocal harmonies. Inspired by albums like Cyndi Lauper’s She’s So Unusual and Janet Jackson’s Control, Barnes set out to make UR FUN into the kind of album where every song could be a single, complete with huge hooky choruses and nostalgic dance grooves. The result is an unstoppably fun album that could also pass for a carefully sequenced greatest-hits collection if taken out of context.
Literary and cultural references on UR FUN run thick. In the same manner that Barnes’ lyrics turned thousands of listeners onto the obscene French novel The Story of the Eye in the past, UR FUN packs nods as diverse and obscure as the films of Italian horror filmmaker Mario Bava, queer novel Horse Crazy by Gary Indiana, Panamanian pop star El General, 80’s sci-fi movie Liquid Sky, Big Star’s cover of “Femme Fatale,” French death metal group Death Throne, and the beautiful Brazilian love song “Cucurucucu Paloma” by Caetano Veloso, to name just a few.
UR FUN’s final moments bring the self-examination of the record full circle with some darker numbers that lament a lost friendship and slips of mental clarity. If the album’s bleak ending leaves you feeling hopeless, flip the record over again and remind yourself “Hush, hush, don’t let’s be negative.” This is all for fun after all.
Track Listing
- Peace To All Freaks
- Polyaneurism
- Get God’s Attention By Being An Atheist
- Gypsy That Remains (Featuring Locate S,1)
- You’ve Had Me Everywhere
- Carmillas Of Love
- Don’t Let Me Die In America
- St. Sebastian
- Deliberate Self-Harm Ha Ha
- 20th Century Schizofriendic Revengoid-man
Featured image by Christina Schnieder.
LINKS:
https://www.ofmontreal.net
https://www.facebook.com/ofmontreal
https://twitter.com/xxofMontrealxx
https://www.instagram.com/of_montreal
