Do you adore the Flaming Lips but think that they don’t sound enough like Queen? Fear not. Of Montreal can service your needs — for the seventh time. The April release of the one-man-band’s newest studio album, The Sunlandic Twins, embarks upon another magical headphone adventure, sailing the seas of indie-pop. This time around, the feel is more electronic, with throbbing beats and snipped-up delay loops tickling the far limits of perception, all under a warm blanket of twee-psychedelic folk smudged with the buzzing lo-fi curiosity of indie nobility Neutral Milk Hotel.
About half of the tracks rely on synth bass and fidgety E-drums, building layers of guitars, strings, vocals and other precious music box sounds atop them. The voices swoop and blend theatrically, like early Freddie Mercury with LSD in his Lucky Charms. Of Montreal is the permanent vehicle of one Kevin Barnes, and his singular creativity yields such lyrical gems as: “The language of the frost lobs dead balloons over ruins today / In view of wan wordless crowds that chase waifs to spires with fiery plumes” (from the album’s best song, “Forecast Fascist Future”), along with self-indulgent instrumental passages best left to B-movie soundtracks. I’ve heard he can do better, but this is good enough.
Of Montreal will perform at Che Cafe on June 4.
