Of Montreal - Rune Husk EP

Hell, I guess in the age of "surprise releases" even Psych Pop/Indie Pop legend's Of Montreal are even allowed to take part in the fun.  Of Montreal when I was younger blew my mind, album's like "Cherry Peel" and "The Gay Parade" are Indie Pop standards.  But when we get to the 2000's, Of Montreal's output has been inconsistent to say the least.  Album's like "Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?" and "Lousy With Sylvianbriar" are fantastic and genre-defying.  But the rest of Of Montreal's recent work has been questionably bad.  "Aureate Gloom" was supposed to be an unhinged and outlandish Of Montreal, but it just came off messy, and "Innocence Reaches" was more or less EDM, eww.  So yea, I was a little skeptical going into this EP.   Have Of Montreal updated their sound once again? Lets find out!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_7E-kQJbJA

(Classic Of Montreal)

This short EP starts with “Internecine Larks”, gotta love Kevin Barnes for once again not going easy on us with song titles.  Anyway! “Internecine Larks” starts out with some warm piano melodies, which if you’ve been following the last year or so of Of Montreal’s career, you’ll know that’s a hard U-Turn for them.  With everything they’ve been dabbling in recently, “Internecine Larks” honestly sounds more up their alley.  While at first Of Montreal sound a little less unhinged, the moment the first verse hits things get really twisted, really fast.  Barnes is always a fiery performer, but here the dude sounds actually disturbed, the psychotic sounding keyboards surrounding him don’t exactly help either.  Bizarrely enough though, underneath all of these bizarre elements, the same old Of Montreal is there.  We have tons of vocal layering as well as theatrical performances, hell in a way I feel like more times than not that I’ve stumbled upon some twisted B-Side to one of their classic albums.  While the drums that come in make things a whole lot more inviting, not even that can take away from all of this strange tension.  Eventually a solid groove comes in that makes things a whole lot easier to access.  We’re one track into this 18 minute EP, and this is easily the best thing Of Montreal have done in the past two years.  After their last two albums, I really didn’t know where Of Montreal were headed.  But this is a totally different direction for them, and the last thing I really expected.  Up next is “Stag To The Stable”.  Like I mentioned earlier, if you’ve been following Of Montreal the last year or so, they’ve been seriously branching towards a more electronic sound.  So to hear a nice solid guitar riff at the beginning of “Stag To The Stable”, man it’s borderline exotic.  Barnes’ performances are usually absolutely stunning, and this is no different.  I mean, you still may need a dictionary or two to figure out what the hell he’s talking about, but he sings it all with such passion and great performances that you can’t help but marvel at it.  To be honest, this sounds like a track that would have landed on Of Montreal’s “Lousy With Sylvianbriar” album.  Meanwhile we once again are dealing with some seriously fantastic vocal harmonies.  When it comes to Of Montreal, when they do harmonies right they do it wonderful, and the harmonies here have me smiling from ear to ear.  While “Stag To The Stable” still has a seriously twisted undertone, it’s also strangely sunny and psychedelic in feel.  This is quickly becoming my favorite thing they’ve done in a WHILE.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebiweHu7Ems

“Widowsucking” is up next, and to be perfectly honest it may be the most twisted sounding track yet.  Everything about the rhythm here is so off kilter, it sounds like the soundtrack to a snuff film or an acid movie of sorts.  It’s all based around these constantly winding pianos, even the harmonies which are usually cheery sound melted and dreary.  All of these sounds are just such a hard U-Turn from what Of Montreal have been doing the past year or so, it’s fascinating really.  While Barnes’ performance remains fiery and is still the star of the show, this atmosphere certainly gives it a run for it’s money.  Then about halfway through were just kinda thrown into this abyss where everything drowns out and we’re stuck with almost a droning synth.  This track overall may be a low point on this EP, but it’s still pretty fantastic.  Finally we have the finale, “Island Life”.   Once again, man is this ever freakin’ dark.  This track sounds absolutely hellish, like something out of the deepest darkest corner of Silent Hill.  Honestly, I can’t freakin’ wait to see how this effects their next album.  Barnes’ vocals here are at a much lower pitch, but his vocals sound so calculating and seriously disturbing.  His imagery that he’s become known for makes everything that much creepier.  Even the angelic vocals that come in behind Barnes end up coming off more cultish than anything.  “Island Life” is sort of sexual, sluggish, and completely over the top, but I can’t say no.  At the end of the day, this EP is heavier and darker than half of the metal I’ve heard this past year, and it’s certainly reignited my interest in Of Montreal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHlXp88sebc

Rating : 7.8/10

Overall Thoughts:  Of Montreal here took just about the hardest U-Turn they could have.  For the past few years, they've been trying all of these new sounds from experimental rock to borderline EDM.  So when I hear them going for their classic Psych-Pop sound, and mixing in truly twisted, dark, truly terrifying atmospheres and song topics, man am I ever excited.  This time 3 months ago, I wanted Kevin Barnes to take a step back and refresh himself, but hearing this EP makes me want him to hurry the hell up with Of Montreal's next full length album