Chattanooga Times Free Press entertainment reporter Casey Phillips spoke with Kevin Barnes, lead singer and founder of Athens, Ga.-based indie pop band Of Montreal about writing more confessional songs, his relationship to the band’s early records and not scaring away listeners.
CP: Of Montreal has such an enormous discography that the learning curve can seem pretty steep for newcomers to your music. What do you recommend as a good jumping on point to get a feel for what the band is about these days?
KB: These days, I would definitely start with “Paralytic Stalks,” the new record, but if you want to get a concept of just an overall view of the project, you probably have to take a sample from all the records. But obviously, “Paralytic Stalks” is the most current thing you can listen to and get a sense of where we’re at.
CP: Speaking of “Paralytic Stalks,” that’s still quite new. How does the finished product measure up to your intentions when you started working on it?
KB: I feel really, really good about it. It’s not the record that’s going to make me stop making records forever because I feel like I’ve said everything I want to say. I hope I never make that record, in a way. But I feel really positive about it because I feel like it has a really strong identity, and it’s different from past records. I feel like I’ve stumbled upon a method of expressing myself, lyrically. It’s closer to what I’ve been trying to attain in having a very direct voice that’s coming from straight from the heart and not hiding behind personas or things like that.