Of Montreal, 'Skeletal Lamping'

Of Montreal's last album, 'Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?' mastered one of my absolute favorite musical tricks: combining grim lyrics and sad sentiments with upbeat, cheerful melodies. They plumbed the depths of misanthropy and nihilism and set it to beats you couldn't help but dance to. Listening to it was like an excellently-written novel featuring a protagonist you were meant to hate.

Of Montreal keeps their sharp edge with 'Skeletal Lamping,' and whereas 'Hissing Fauna...' dealt with existential cynicism and depression, this album focuses more on themes of sexuality. There is romance here, but it's greasy and impure. "Gallery Piece" begins I wanna be your love/I want to make you cry/I want to sweep you off your feet and progresses to I wanna sell you out/want to expose your flaws/I wanna steal your things.

'Skeletal Lamping' is still dance-pop, but the band adds more elements this time. The instrumentation is all over the place, and many songs switch sounds completely halfway through. It has a certain calculated schizophrenia: the opening track, "Nonpareil of Favor," starts with quick hyper beats, then morphs into a country-esque bridge and then a psychedelic breakdown before reaching a three-minute-long shoegaze peak with what sounds like a choir in the background. This beginning is a good indicator for what you can expect--or rather, not expect--from the rest of the album. The influences are varied and the contrasts are ferocious, and I have another great album to listen to when I'm feeling so over humanity but still want to dance.