Of Montreal Unveil 'lousy with sylvianbriar' LP, Share New Track

BY Alex HudsonPublished Jul 10, 2013

Prolific pop weirdos Of Montreal have kept the new releases steadily flowing over the last few years, and this will continue this fall with the arrival of all-lowercased lousy with sylvianbriar on October 8 through Polyvinyl.

As project mastermind Kevin Barnes recently promised, this album represents a major shift for Of Montreal. For one, as you can see from the album cover above, the band have abandoned their usual visual aesthetic. What's more, Barnes relocated to San Francisco to write before returning to his home studio in Athens, GA. With assistance from engineer Drew Vandenberg (Deerhunter, Toro y Moi, Ra Ra Riot), he recorded the album without computers on a 24-track tape machine.

The album was recorded in three weeks. Much of it was tracked with the band together in the same room, with Barnes and his backing players coming up with parts on the fly.

Barnes said in a statement, "I knew I wanted the process to be more in line with the way people used to make albums in the late '60s and early '70s. I wanted to work fast and to maintain a high level of spontaneity and immediacy. I wanted the songs to be more lyric-driven, and for the instrumental arrangements to be understated and uncluttered."

This is, of course, a huge departure from the jam-packed funk-pop arrangements that have characterized the band's work in recent years. An announcement from Polyvinyl makes comparisons to classic acts like the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, and Neil Young & Crazy Horse. Stream the rustic-sounding album opener "fugitive air" below.

The album is available to pre-order on CD, digital download, green cassette or "sea glass green" vinyl.

This album follows a busy 2012 that saw the band release the new album Paralytic Stalks and the compilation Daughter of Cloud.

lousy with sylvianbriar:

1. fugitive air

2. obsidian currents

3. belle glade missionairies

4. sirens of your toxic spirit

5. colossus

6. triumph of disintegration
7. amphibian days

8. she ain't speakin' now

9. hegira émigré

10. raindrop in my skull

11. imbecile rages

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