With rampant stories regarding predatory men of the cloth, it’s easy to read darker meanings into Of Montreal’s new album, False Priest. Kevin Barnes, OM’s primary creative spark plug, admits he’s had fun with the phrase’s conjured imagery.
“When I was trying to create song titles for (2007’s) Hissing Fauna, I would read Dylan Thomas poems and use that as an influence, like a drug almost, and start freewriting,” Barnes says. “(The phrases) ‘Skeletal Lamping,’ ‘False Priest’ and ‘The Controlosphere’ happened during one of those exercises. When people ask now what it means, I can invent a reason. I’ve said the false priest is the voice inside of everybody that sends you to darker places and sabotages you, in a way.”
False Priest clearly represents Of Montreal’s next evolutionary step, long after beginning a gloriously lo-fi, giddily complex Pop band and one of the ’90s anchors of the Elephant 6 collective. In recent years, of Montreal has morphed into a flamboyantly eclectic Soul revue, as Barnes has been inspired to move his Pop decimal point to the Funk side of the equation.
Of Montreal play the Madison Theater on Tuesday. Go here for Brian Baker's full interview.
