of montreal

You could call Skeletal Lamping a celebration of the pop canon, except that Kevin Barnes, Of Montreal's frontman, has tried specifically to eschew the conventions of traditional pop music in his band's latest effort.

Incorporating elements of funk, jazz and psychedelia, Of Montreal has changed its off-kilter brand of saccharine pop music. The product is a vibrant sound collage ranging from overwhelming cacophony to glorious harmonics. Skeletal Lamping pairs nuanced sonic structures with soaring vocal melodies-the kind of combination one might expect from a David Bowie/Brian Eno collaboration.

Bombastic as the album is, Barnes makes no false pretense of delivering an artistic album without providing the introspective, graphic lyrics we've come to expect. It should come as no surprise that a more chipper Barnes on anti-depressants has written an album less dour than its predecessor. Of Montreal's orgiastic music stylings create a most appropriate backdrop for lyrics like "I want to turn you on/I want to make you come 200 times a day."

Certainly the album is even more deviant than the last, reading at times like a narrative of one man's prurient obsessions; notable is the lyrical creation of the fictional character Georgie Fruit, a bisexual black man whose persona Barnes adopts in his live stage performances. Sex is no new subject matter for a pop record, but ambiguous sexuality retains a certain shock value to this day.

Of Montreal has put an audacious spin on pop music that is especially rewarding with repeated listens. As far as the Bowie comparisons are concerned, though, Skeletal Lamping is no second coming of Ziggy Stardust. Heck, it's stranger than that.