of Montreal has announced the brand new studio album Lady On The Cusp due out May 17 on Polyvinyl Record Co. The new collection is not only a rapturous synthesis of most everything of Montreal has ever done but also Kevin Barnes’ (he/she/they) final transmission from Athens, as they’re now delighted to be living among the snowy peaks and progressive politics of southern Vermont.
A thought provoking shift from art-rock lead track “Yung Hearts Bleed Free”, the band has unveiled new single “Rude Girl On Rotation” a folk-infused beauty stamped with of Montreal’s unique sonic sensibility. Arriving alongside an official video, the song expresses a feeling of being neutered by a neo-Puritanical culture while dreaming of being absorbed into the lush forests of Vermont and the socio-political possibilities that their new home holds.
Barnes shares, “Rude Girl On Rotation” was inspired, in part, by my impending move from Athens GA to our new home in Vermont. I used an open tuning on guitar that Nick Drake used a lot on his jammers. The bass line chugs along in a late 60’s West Coast rocker style, influenced by Canned Heat’s “Poor Moon”. I wanted the song to sound loose and under-produced. It took the least amount of time to record, of all the songs on the album. I hope you like it!”
Gracing countless stages, tv screens, dancefloors and stereos as well as making a political impact in their local community and beyond for nearly three decades, the new 10 song suite bends gender and genre through complicated, ever-delightful and often woe fueling kinetic tunes of radical incandescence. 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.
