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Jul 16, 2024 Web Exclusive By Scotty Dransfield

It’s the end of an era, and Kevin Barnes (he/she/they) seems to be feeling reflective. After a few albums of total-abandon-style exploratory weirdness—not a new turn for the Barnes’ long-running Athens-based operation by any stretch of the imagination—he’s moving to Vermont. Thus, Lady on the Cusp is the final of Montreal album from the American South. Perhaps that’s why listening to it in sequence feels like a shuffled tour of the various warped lenses through which Barnes has beamed all manner of pop subgenres. Your mileage may vary depending on how closely you’ve followed the group, but if you’ve listened to of Montreal at all, you’ll almost definitely find something to love here.

The manic “Music Hurts the Head” kicks off the album, and it’s a lot to wrap one’s head around. In the wrong mood, it could be an instant turn-off, sounding as it does like it was composed by dropping objects from a distance onto a keyboard, letting the random notes also determine things like key changes and melodic (or anti-melodic) choices. But it’s also something of a feint, as the rest of the tracklist smoothes out into various discernible and easier-to-digest styles. The weirder songs, like “2 Depressed 2 Fuck” and “PI$$ PI$$,” release chaos in controlled blasts and surround those moments with catchy, disco and synth-pop inspired verses. In the album’s more accessible moments, particularly the entirety of “Rude Girl on Rotation” and “Sea Mines That Mr. Gone,” Barnes even achieves an easy, relaxed mode that has been largely absent from of Montreal’s releases since 2013’s Lousy with Sylvianbriar at least.

It’s hard to recommend Lady on the Cusp to anyone wanting to encounter of Montreal for the first time. But even a passing familiarity with the relentlessly creative weirdness of Barnes’ mind is adequate in order to recognize the spark of life that animates the new album; if it’s the end of an era, it also signifies the abundance of water still in Barnes’ well, and an excitement for the era to come. (www.ofmontreal.net)

Author rating: 7/10