For most students, Halloweekend will start this Thursday with- what else?- Halloween. But for those who simply can’t wait to start their spooky celebrations, the festivities start a night earlier - Wednesday - with a concert by Of Montreal. The show is at Lincoln Hall, accessible from the Fullerton Red Line stop, at 7 p.m.
The Athens, Georgia-based group is on tour with their 12th album, Lousy With Sylvianbriar, a kaleidoscopic, sun-drenched affair that harkens back to 1960s hippy-rock. Known for putting on high-energy and visually overwhelming shows - one show featured the lead singer on horseback - students looking for an easy way to kick off Halloween season right should view this as an opportunity to throw on a costume and get down. Here are a few songs to look for during the show.
"Fugitive Air" from Lousy With Sylvianbriar (2013)
The lead single and opener for their latest album, “Fugitive Air” is a roaring throwback to the 60s. Electric guitar bursts at the track’s seams, as the song rapidly shifts moods in its four minutes. At song’s end, lead singer Kevin Barnes la-la-la’s gently into the ether, far removed from the track’s fast-charging intro.
"Coquette Coquette" from False Priest (2010)
Easily one of the group’s punchiest songs, “Coquet Coquette” finds Barnes fixated on a mysterious, potentially dangerous lover. The song’s enigmatic paramour pushes Barnes into despair, as he belts, “You are the death/You are the pinnacle.” This perfect balance of avant-garde imagery and high-energy stomper should get feet pounding on Wednesday.
"For Our Elegant Caste" from Skeletal Lamping (2008)
Starting with their album Skeletal Lamping, the band enters a hypersexual funk era, singing about helpless romanticism and freaky fetishes in equal measure. “For Our Elegant Caste” is the purest distillation of that style, made obvious in its opening lines, “We can do it softcore if you want/But you should know I take it both ways.” Propelled by Barnes’s self-harmonizing singing, the song rides a sneaky groove through a tale about Georgie Fruit, Barnes’s black, cross-dressing alter ego. Overall, pretty normal stuff.
"Gronlandic Edit" from Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? (2007)
From their greatest album, “Gronlandic Edit” sums up Of Montreal’s career in a tight three and a half minutes. A slinky bass line holds the track together, letting Barnes explore religion, a frequent Of Montreal topic. He approaches the issue with trademark obscurity, musing, “All the churches filled with losers, psycho or confused,” providing listeners no easy answers. Of course, it’s easy to lose the lyrics, as the song’s pulsating groove encourages nothing short of full-out hip shaking madness.
"Requiem For O.M.M.2" from The Sunlandic Twins (2005)
As close to pure rock n' roll as this band ever gets, “Requiem For O.M.M.2” wears its gushy romantic heart on its sleeve. The track bounces along jauntily without pause, propelled through an earnestly heartwarming story of young love that’s endured to adulthood. Barnes admits to his unknown crush, “I don’t need a photograph/ ‘cause you’ve never left my mind.” This one should bring out the helpless romantic within everybody in attendance.