![]() I could name these characters, but that takes me out of it emotionally and seems to make it more of a fiction. You’re just bringing something to the surface that already existed. “There are all these different kinds of people inside me,” said Barnes. In the past, Barnes has worked with alter egos - notably the African American transgender funk musician Georgie Fruit, who took full form on Of Montreal’s 2008 album “Skeletal Lamping.” That record was idiosyncratic to the point of illegibility with “False Priest,” Barnes has come back to himself, recognizing that any persona is simply an aspect of his own sometimes feverish dreams. Sly’s a great influence too just because of what he can do with his voice.” I’m a huge Prince fan but also a huge fan of those earlier artists. “They don’t think Sly Stone or James Brown. “People hear a high-pitched scream, and they think Prince,” said Barnes. But Barnes hopes fans hear the artists who inspired the Purple auteur. At first listen, it sounds a lot like early Prince. On songs such as the hysterically soulful “I Feel Ya’ Strutter” and the lush “Enemy Gene” (a duet with Monae), rhythms pulsing with blood balance out the chrome sounds of Barnes’ alien-lover vocals and keyboard hooks. “We want to combine the two worlds, using some of the technology they didn’t have then, but also following the spirit of that.” Back then you had no Auto-Tune, no MIDI, no sampling,” he said. “It’s easier now to seem like you’re good. Old-fashioned musicianship coexists with bedroom-auteur innovations.īarnes cites classic soul music as his inspiration. Working quickly, Brion, Chamberlain and Barnes rebuilt “False Priest” as what R&B futurist Monae, a close friend of Barnes and co-headliner on the current tour, would happily identify as an android. He is very open to experimentation and Jon is a master at recording and mangling drums, so we tried tons of things.” Of course, I tried other ideas to see what would work around his programming, and there were many tracks that fused things he programmed with what I came up with at the studio. “I would say 95% of what I played was what he had programmed. ![]() “What he was looking for from me was to enhance his programming, which meant to try and match the sonics, but with acoustic drums,” Chamberlain wrote in an e-mail interview. Barnes crafted the songs by himself, then worked with the famed producer Jon Brion (an old hand working with prickly auteurs such as Fiona Apple and Kanye West) to make the sound more open and adaptable during live performance. ![]() The band, whose dress rehearsal I witnessed in September, is promoting its 10th album, “False Priest.” That recording took Of Montreal in yet another direction. Recent years have seen the addition of those costumed, free-form dancers, now a troupe of four members who embody and expand upon Of Montreal’s music in ways matched by few other performers on the indie music scene. As the band’s sound evolved from fey pop to psychedelic dance-rock to slippery R&B, Barnes enlisted a core of musicians to realize his visions onstage. For more than a decade, Barnes has used the name to describe his musical outpouring, which he has mostly recorded as a computer-assisted one-man operation. Most indie-rock bands don’t need dress rehearsals, but Of Montreal isn’t your normal anything. He was tired, but he knew that this particular trip was just beginning. His brother David, wearing a Lycra body sock, huddled in conversation with three other dancers he’s the concept artist for Of Montreal, responsible for the abstract narrative reminiscent of both the fine artist Matthew Barney and the glam-rock of Alice Cooper that had just unfolded onstage.Īs the band continued its King of Pop jam - which will serve as an occasion to collaborate with tour mate Janelle Monae when Of Montreal plays the Palladium on Saturday - it left “Thriller” behind for “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” and “P.Y.T.” Kevin jumped on a nearby bicycle. Props and costume pieces - sequined fish claws, flame-trimmed monster masks, a massive stuffed golem everyone called “God” - lay scattered around the stiflingly hot warehouse where Of Montreal had been camped for the past few weeks.įive-year-old Alabee was actually at home with her grandparents, but Barnes’ wife and artistic partner, Nina, stood behind the soundboard taking mental notes. It was the end of a long dress rehearsal for the indie- pop band Of Montreal, and Barnes and his mates were a little punch-drunk. Your father is going to sing Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’!” announced Kevin Barnes as that song’s instantly recognizable opening rang out behind him.
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