Just when Athens, Georgia band Of Montreal was starting to get a little too easy to understand with its album “Lousy with Sylvanbriar,” things have been knocked back into place with “Aureate Gloom.”
As is usual with listening to Of Montreal, things are never as they seem. “Aureate Gloom” is songwriter Kevin Barnes getting back to his roots. Kicking off with a heavy-rocking guitar wail, “Bassem Sabry” pulls the rug out from under the listener by switching sharply to disco music. Disco has always been a staple of Of Montreal’s music, tying in with its affinity for psychedelic rock and glam rock.
Though many of the album’s song titles sound like they’re lifted from a space opera, “Aureate Gloom” plays like it’s all about change. Specifically, it shows the band’s aforementioned shift back to its old ways. At any point, songs make 180-degree turns into not only new rhythms, but entirely new genres.
For any other band, this would be written off as fumbling or indecisive, but for Of Montreal, it’s the band showing off its encyclopedic prowess. The best comparison to past albums can be made to “Satanic Panic In The Attic,” whose age and popularity as a classic Of Montreal album warranted a recent reissuing by the band.
The similarities between “Aureate Gloom” and “Satanic Panic” lie in the overall atmosphere given off by the album. In the former, the band feels carefree and happy with the music it’s making. The track “Virgilian Lots” is a perfect example of Barnes’ dense songwriting, which is typically littered with references to mythology, film and obscure literature.
Barnes has maintained a reputation for both his songwriting and singing. New listeners may be put off by his distinct voice, which is high-pitched and so nasally, it borders on a buzz in the ear. However, on “Aureate Gloom,” Barnes seems to have landed his singing extremely close to that of David Bowie. On tracks like “Aluminum Crown” and “Monolithic Egress,” Barnes’ voice rings out in a cry reminiscent of Bowie’s “Ziggy Stardust” days.
“Aureate Gloom” is a formidable addition to Of Montreal’s already impressive collection of 13 albums since forming in 1997. Its only real downfall is its reliance on rock songwriting over forms typical of Of Montreal, which results in the album sounding oddly close to a Cake album, but with trance music played over it.