Supposed sellouts stall

Ironically, many of today’s indie bands have music featured on commercials.
Of Montreal, a psychedelic-pop band from Athens, Ga., had their song “Wraith Pinned to the Mist (And Other Games)” featured in an Outback Steakhouse commercial. The song was altered to become a jingle suited for television viewing. 

After being chastised for succumbing to corporate desires, Of Montreal recorded Skeletal Lamping. The band members have stated that this new album was partially a subconscious effort to challenge that notion. The result is an incredibly inaccessible and volatile album.

Although Of Montreal may have been justified in producing a record that doesn’t have any proximity to the mainstream, Skeletal Lamping feels like a regression.

After showing off their ability to produce a cerebral and innovative album with 2007’s Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?, the flaws of Skeletal Lamping are only exacerbated. With the production of their ninth studio album, they have lost their prowess to produce blithe and poppy dance songs.

Although the lyrics illustrate Kevin Barnes’ ability to write soul-baring lyrics, the album is bereft of the fluidity Of Montreal is capable of producing. Their song-to-song transitions are chaotic, and even individual tracks are convoluted and haphazard.

One positive aspect of Skeletal Lamping is that Of Montreal have stayed true to their fundamental sound. They have returned with an album that is just as eccentric and overtly sexual as their previous efforts. 

The song “Id Engager” ends the album with throbbing beats and Barnes’ eccentric vocals. It sounds similar to their previous work, only less infectious, and would have fit better at the beginning of the album.

With its erratic songs and lack of the group's usual monolithic build-ups, Skeletal Lamping ends up a disappointment.

Though the negative criticism received from the Outback Steakhouse commercial purportedly gave Barnes the fire he needed to produce an interesting album, he may have simultaneously put out a fire in listeners.