Of Montreal concert review
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Another long-past-due concert review...
Of MontrealSaturday, February 2Great American Music Hall
Before the concert, I wasn't that excited about their new album. The concert actually changed a lot of what I thought about the band. For one (and listening back to their music now, I'm not sure exactly how I missed this), Of Montreal is total glam rock. I had never made the Brian Eno connection until hearing them live, but now its absolutely the first thing I think of...besides, like, "party tunes."
The lead singer and songwriter (Kevin Barnes) was wearing flashy clothes, multiple wardrobe changes, had shiny eyeliner on, and could dance. I started listening to them a couple years ago in Austin, when a bunch of people at work were getting really into _Sunlandic Twins_ (which is the one album of theirs that I'll recommend above all others). I kinda got burned out on them when somebody let me have copies of allllll of their albums, an easy overdose to be overwhelmed with. I hadn't listened to them at all until _Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer_ came out and I knew they were coming to SF to play.
The references in their songs to Scandinavia always caught my ear--my family is of Norwegian descent and I've been there on an awesome vacation. It turns out Kevin Barnes wife is from Norway and he's spent a good deal of time there. _Hissing Fauna_ was apparently for him a way to artistically raise himself up out of a debilitating depression experienced last winter while living there with his wife (interview from Seattle Weekly). It gets and stays dark there in the winter, y'know? Be sure to listen to their song about Oslo In the summertime (appropriately titled Oslo In the Summertime, of course).
Other favorite lyrics include "I felt the darkness from the black metal bands." Favorite song from the new album is definitely "Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse." It's all about chemical depression, and Kevin is pleading with his dopamine and seratonin to "c'mon be a friend" and let him get back to normal, all inside the guise of a bliss-pop twirly romp. Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse
Anyhow, the show was incredibly high energy and the band was a lot tighter than I thought they could be...especially with the harmony vocal parts you hear so much in their music. They waved (and subsequently passed around the crowd) a GIANT Norwegian flag during a song, Kevin came out wearing a 10-foot party dress, and a good time was had by all.
Of MontrealSaturday, February 2Great American Music HallBefore the concert, I wasn't that excited about their new album. The concert actually changed a lot of what I thought about the band. For one (and listening back to their music now, I'm not sure exactly how I missed this), Of Montreal is total glam rock. I had never made the Brian Eno connection until hearing them live, but now its absolutely the first thing I think of...besides, like, "party tunes."
The lead singer and songwriter (Kevin Barnes) was wearing flashy clothes, multiple wardrobe changes, had shiny eyeliner on, and could dance. I started listening to them a couple years ago in Austin, when a bunch of people at work were getting really into _Sunlandic Twins_ (which is the one album of theirs that I'll recommend above all others). I kinda got burned out on them when somebody let me have copies of allllll of their albums, an easy overdose to be overwhelmed with. I hadn't listened to them at all until _Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer_ came out and I knew they were coming to SF to play.
The references in their songs to Scandinavia always caught my ear--my family is of Norwegian descent and I've been there on an awesome vacation. It turns out Kevin Barnes wife is from Norway and he's spent a good deal of time there. _Hissing Fauna_ was apparently for him a way to artistically raise himself up out of a debilitating depression experienced last winter while living there with his wife (interview from Seattle Weekly). It gets and stays dark there in the winter, y'know? Be sure to listen to their song about Oslo In the summertime (appropriately titled Oslo In the Summertime, of course).
Other favorite lyrics include "I felt the darkness from the black metal bands." Favorite song from the new album is definitely "Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse." It's all about chemical depression, and Kevin is pleading with his dopamine and seratonin to "c'mon be a friend" and let him get back to normal, all inside the guise of a bliss-pop twirly romp. Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse
Anyhow, the show was incredibly high energy and the band was a lot tighter than I thought they could be...especially with the harmony vocal parts you hear so much in their music. They waved (and subsequently passed around the crowd) a GIANT Norwegian flag during a song, Kevin came out wearing a 10-foot party dress, and a good time was had by all.
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