Of Montreal — aka Kevin Barnes — has just announced that they will be releasing their new album, Lady on the Cusp, on May 17th via Polyvinyl Records.
Written and recorded in the months when Barnes and partner, musician Christina Schneider, prepared them to move, Lady On The Cusp combines a keen reckoning with the past with hopeful glimpses of the future, all clad in Barnes’ purposefully scattershot pop kaleidoscopes. The new 10 song suite — funny and sad, sexy and brooding, playful and serious — find Barnes finding new paths ahead.
All of this comes to a head on the album’s lead single, “Yung Hearts Bleed Free,” which Of Montreal has released today. The Bootsy Collins-influenced, self-deprecating ode to Barnes’ heroes — “sex maniacs” and “drug-addled creeps” — indulges in freedom and fetish. It is candid, too, about the doubts and shortcomings of any life lived fully.
Barnes explains that the song was, “Influenced by the Leos Carax film “Boy Meets Girl”, Bootsy’s Rubber Band, and my recent purchase of a Yamaha TG33 and a Kawai K1M. I wanted to make a strutting, sexy little vamp of a song that just kind of chugged along and felt relaxed and playful and free.”
Director Madeline Babuka Black shares, “There’s a certain 60’s/ experimental spirit to Barnes’ songwriting that I love and by using analog techniques of paper cut out and direct on film animation I pay homage to that. The paper cut out animations and color palette of the film were deeply inspired by Larry Jordan’s experimental animations, most notably his 1968 film “Our Lady of the Sphere.”
Watch the music video below.
Additionally, it has been announced that Of Montreal will be going out on a headlining tour this summer. Check out all of those dates below, as well as the album details.
Artwork:
Track-listing:
- Music Hurts the Head
- 2 Depressed 2 Fuck
- Rude Girl on Rotation
- Yung Hearts Bleed Free
- Soporific Cell
- I Can Read Smoke
- PI$$ PI$$
- Sea Mines That Mr Gone
- Poetry Surf
- Genius in the Wind
Tour dates:
5/31: Athens, GA @ Georgia Theatre #
6/01: Chattanooga, TN @ Barrelhouse Ballroom #
6/03: Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts #
6/04: Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere #
6/05: Boston, MA @ The Sinclair #
6/06: Hamden, CT @ Space Ballroom #
6/07: Rochester, NY @ Water Street Music Hall #
6/08: Detroit, MI @ The Magic Stick #
6/09: Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall #
6/10: St. Louis, MO @ Delmar Hall #
6/11: Wichita, KS @ Wave (Indoor) # %
6/12: Englewood, CO @ Gothic Theatre # %
6/14: Jackson Hole, WY @ Center For The Arts %
6/15: Boise, ID @ Treefort Music Hall %
6/16: Seattle, WA @ Neumos %
6/17: Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom %
6/18: Eugene, OR @ WOW Hall %
6/19: Roseville, CA @ Goldfield Trading Post %
6/20: Berkeley, CA @ UC Theatre %
6/21: Los Angeles, CA @ The Regent Theater %
6/22: Phoenix, AZ @ The Crescent Ballroom %
6/23: Albuquerque, NM @ Sister %
6/25: Austin, TX @ Mohawk %
6/26: Dallas, TX @ Trees %
6/27: Springfield, MO @ The Regency Live %
6/28: Nashville, TN @ The Exit In %
6/29: Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse %
6/30: Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle %
7/01: Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club %
7/02: Asheville, NC @ Grey Eagle %
# w/ Godcaster
% w/ Tele Novella
