Of Montreal returns to The Pabst

Following the 2012 release of LP Paralytic Stalks and the compilation album Daughter of Cloud, psych-pop band Of Montreal has once again taken their legendary live show on the road, and plans to rock it in Milwaukee on Thursday, May 16, at The Pabst.  This will be the band’s third trip to Milwaukee in the last year, after memorable September and December performances at the Pabst and Turner Hall, respectively.

Of Montreal’s live performances, which include wildly bizarre visual aids, props, and costumes, have been the band’s real claim to fame, alongside the intense, danceable vocals of lead singer Kevin Barnes.  The Athens, Georgia-based band is known for their raw and poppy, yet theatrical sounds that range all the way from psychedelic pop and funk to electronica and glam. Their influences spark from Broadway musicals, pop sensatations like Prince and David Bowie, and funkadelic heros like Sly & The Family Stone and Stevie Wonder.  The band is infamously known for often combining intimate, gloomy lyrics with upbeat, lively music.  With songs like “Gronlandic Edit,” “Wrath Pinned to the Mist (And Other Games),” and “Oslo in the Summertime,” the catchy melodies and trippy riffs will make you want to get up and groove.

Their sounds have continually evolved from album to album, with Barnes being fond of individual album concepts, mixed with his self-created wacky alter-egos which vary between each album. Although the band has released new material nearly every year since 1996, Barnes refuses to play anything from pre-2004 albums like Cherry Peel, Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies: A Variety of Whimsical Verse, or The Gay Parade.

Despite this, Of Montreal isn’t looking to slow down. The band’s twelfth album, Lousy with Sylvianbriar (a reference to the poetry of Sylvia Plath, which partly inspired the LP), has a new, completely different feel from Paralytic Stalks: dark, yet interesting nonetheless, with elements of the Grateful Dead, Neil Young and the Flying Burrito Brothers. In a statement on the band’s website, Barnes says: “I wrote most of the songs while on a self-imposed isolation experiment in San Francisco earlier this year, and we recorded it, over a two week period.”

Of Montreal’s last December performance in Milwaukee at Turner consisted of a set list that mainly reflected songs from their newer albums False Priest, Daughter of Cloud, and Paralytic Stalks, but also featured songs from their classics like The Sundlandic Twins and Hissing Fauna, Are You a Destroyer?.  Thursday’s setlist may have a somewhat similar theme, but don’t think that means this’ll just be a repeat of their last show. Barnes’ eccentric character and soaring energy makes every Of Montreal gig its own unique experience.

Of Montreal will perform at the Pabst Theatre on Thursday, May 16. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased online or at (414) 286-3663. Doors open at 7:30 p.m.