Kevin Barnes is nothing if not generous. On the ninth studio disc he’s released as Of Montreal, he offers 15 new tunes, most of which function like mini-suites of three or four or nine songs-within-songs.
At a moment when the album is quickly losing ground to the single as a commodity, Barnes appears more concerned than ever with giving good value. And his munificence isn’t limited to the recording studio: “I wanna make you come 200 times a day,” he sings over a shower of trebly guitar sparkles in “Gallery Piece,” one of Skeletal Lamping’s many, many sex-soaked glam-funk jams. As was the case with last year’s Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? — which triggered Of Montreal’s transition from well-respected underground institution to indie-scene A-listers — it’s impossible not to admire his compositional breadth; only Beck shape-shifts with more authority or invention.
But Barnes’s material isn’t as sharp this time, as you can hear in “Nonpareil of Favor,” where a delightful disco-pop romp derails into formless noise-band jamming. This feast isn’t without a good deal of filler.
