Of Montreal - Aethermead - Import CD

Although all things are relative when it comes to a project as prolific, stylistically elastic, and situational as Of Montreal, their 20th album, aethermead, was the product of a particularly disruptive time for leader Kevin Barnes. While their previous album, Lady on the Cusp (2024), was a mercurial one informed by a move from Barnes longtime home of Athens, Georgia, to Vermont with their partner, that eight-year relationship subsequently ended, and Barnes moved to Brooklyn (a relocation prompted by their daughter attending film school in Manhattan). The resulting breakup album is a wry one -- sometimes brutally so -- expressed through a return to a more straightforward psychedelic pop recorded with recurring Of Montreal members Jojo Glidewell and Clayton Rychlik. It starts off with a Vermont song, "Already Dreaming," that Barnes has since called a "sad augury" for that relationship. Indeed, with lyrics like the chorus-ending "Im gonna miss you when Im dead," the dreamy, poppy, vaguely Beatlesque tune, while pleasing to ear, features fairly miserable lyrics about walking on eggshells in the domestic day-to-day. Later, the driving, more Velvet Underground-suggesting rocker "Take the Form" is about trying to make someone into something theyre not, and snaky psychedelic tune "Hack It Up," after "trying to fit in to your life to see how it feels," makes a melodic chorus out of "Im not expecting very much, just you." Songs like "Lacan in the Family" and "Now We Cringe at the Thought" make it clear that things didnt go so great between them after the split, either. Throughout, however, aethermead is marked by strong choruses, pop structures, and variations on catharsis; rare exceptions like "Listen to Music and Cry" and the druggy, jazz-tinged "From the Font of You," which slides into a palette of vibraphone, piano, and harpsichord-type timbres, are balanced by songs such as the horny, R-rated dance-rock banger "When." Shots fired there included lines like "I dont wanna start a band with you" and "Dont need to be friends with your friends." The 13-track set closes with a quiet acoustic song, "Dismissal Mosaics," in which Barnes recalls a good memory and takes some responsibility for the couples incompatibility. Results may vary on whether listeners find the lyrics cathartic, cringy, or neutral on the relatability scale, but it is Of Montreals most consistently strong and musically accessible group of songs since at least the party album Ur Fun (2020) and arguably as far back as Lousy with Sylvianbriar (2013). ~ Marcy Donelson

Tracklisting:

1.Already Dreaming
2.Wanting on Air
3.Listen to Music and Cry
4.My Zhe Zhe
5.Take the Form
6.When
7.Hack it Up
8.Lacan in the Family
9.Having a Moment
10.From the Font of You
11.To Nothing's Reward
12.Now We Cringe at the Thought
13.Dismissal Mosaics