Are Of Montreal in a rut? Some seem to think so. Actually… many seem to think so. Music critics, in particular, have often wondered if Kevin Barnes and his prolific Athens, Georgia based band can ever re-create the glory that was 2007’s Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?, their undisputed masterpiece. Because that album was so– damn, I’ll just say it– perfect, everything that’s come after it has fallen in varying degrees of flatness. Skeletal Lamping was pretty good, False Priest was okay, but for the most part Paralytic Stalks, released earlier this year, was quite the disappointment. 
But for any great rock band– such as, for example, the fictional Stillwater of Almost Famous– music critics are “the enemy.” Of Montreal’s latest release, Daughter of Cloud, is a seventeen-track collection of b-sides and rarities meant to satisfy a band’s true audience: its devoted fans. And throughout a career spanning sixteen years, eleven albums, and more tours around the U.S.A. than any political candidate, they’ve accumulated lots of them. So if you love Of Montreal unconditionally, then Daughter of Cloud will be just the album to snuggle up with on a chilly winter’s night.
But if you’re not a faithful devotee of the House of Barnes, that’s okay, too. While Daughter of Cloud may be a bit long and slightly incohesive (it is a compilation, after all), there are a few standouts that will definitely be worth your time. “Sails, Hermaphroditic” is absurd and super funk-tastic with a groovy bassline, over which Barnes croons about “champagne and strawberry pancakes as an after sex snack.” Later, he imagines himself as a sexy, modern day Dr. Frankenstein. “Psychotic Feeling,” written around the time of Hissing Fauna, is (not surprisingly) one of the best tracks of the collection. When Barnes proclaims, “I wish I could talk, I wish I could live like there was nothing to hide,” it manages to capture the perfect paranoia of that earlier record. Likewise, opener “Our Love is Senile” is definitely reminiscent of the early, triumphant Of Montreal. Just one listen of that dynamic bass line and sharp, prickly guitar, and suddenly I’m eighteen again, dressed in neon, and dancing like a maniac at one of Of Montreal’s riotous New York shows (yeah, that actually happened). A happy, and very familiar, memory for any OF fan.
But the highlight of Daughter of Cloud is a newer track, “Feminine Effects,” which positively drips in nostalgia while managing to sound completely and utterly fresh. A gentle, 70s style rock ballad a la` Elton John or Bowie, Barnes (along with guest vocalist Rebecca Cash) takes the time to let his voice churn like butter, then slowly melt over the entire track. Appropriate to the time it was written, “Feminine Effects” finds Barnes looking backwards, yet testing out a new, classic style that works all too well. It’s a warm, settling, beautiful song.
So maybe Of Montreal are in a bit of rut; but perhaps “Feminine Effects” is proof that they’ve still got some gas left in the tank. Daughter of Cloud might not be the place to start for any new Of Montreal fan, but it’s got plenty to satisfy the fans, and also a little extra. Plus, whether you’re a friend or an enemy, it just might remind you why you love the band in the first place. In “Our Love is Senile,” Kevin Barnes sings that “we need laughter, happiness, madness, anything.” And if that doesn’t sum up Of Montreal, I don’t know what does.
3 / 5 bars
