Back in the day I worked at a massive bookstore. There were about a gazillion staff, but only one of the guys there was openly gay. He really loved this exclusivity too, and several of the female staff had taken him under their wing as their token ‘gay friend’ accessory.
But one day, the store had the audacity to employ another one, and all hell broke loose. The previously mild mannered guy started to become more extrovert, as the new guy was far more showy and flamboyant; all tight T-shirts and tales of sexual exploits. It was a bloody nightmare, like two bespectacled ballerinas with flat tops competing to be the only gay in the bookshop.
And at the peak of hostilities, if dramatised for Channel 4, Skeletal Lamping by Of Monreal would be the perfect soundtrack. A more over the top, “Look at me, I’m gay, really!” soundtrack you could not possibly hope to find. And, for the most part, it is truly horrible. What probably makes it worse is that it follows Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?, considered by many to be Of Montreal’s masterwork to date. Last year’s deeply personal change of tack was a breath of fresh air, highlighting how downbeat, troubled lyrics could exist alongside upbeat disco melodies. But with his demons vanquished, frontman Kevin Barnes has led his merry troops back into high camp discoball land with renewed gusto.
Of Montreal have the same sort of vibe as Scissor Sisters, only more so. And on Skeletal Lamping the high camp is often ramped up to 11, consequently ruining it. Lyrically it centres on fictional character Georgie Fruit, a sex-driven sex-changed sextraterrestrial best described in the truly awful ‘For Our Elegant Castle’ with the mantra, “We can do it softcore if you want, but you should know that I go both ways”. As an object lesson in portraying someone so overdosed on their own excesses they have become a parody of themselves, it does the job. As an album of music you might want to actually listen to, it falls painfully short. From repetitive and sometimes unlistenable OTT opener ‘Nonpareil of Favor’ to the closing ‘Id Engager’, which sounds like it was thrown together as they went, it’s a Queen/Bowie/disco-inspired mess. The reason ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ is a classic is because it’s unique; but as many hate it as love it. This is like an album full of poor rehashes of that track.
Perhaps I’m being a little harsh. The worst sin of ‘An Eluardian Instance’ and ‘Beware Our Nubile Miscreants’ is being ordinary, while ‘I’ve seen A Bloody Shadow’ and ‘Plastic Wafers’ are passable early Bowie pastiches. ‘Death Is Not a Parallel Move’ is both subtle and interesting, and my favourite moment for it – probably because it offers a haven of calm amid the carnage. Overall though, I found it almost impossible to listen to Skeletal Lamping all the way through.
50%
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November 19th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
If you untick three “Georgie Fruit” tracks, this albums gets a hell of a lot better. I like it much better now than I did for the first few listens.
November 19th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
ouch
November 19th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
I’m afriad I agree with Chris – this was an utter disappointment – no consistancy, and just a tendancy to be weird for weirds sake, rather than making great quirky pop songs.
November 19th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Oh – I really liked this album. I liked the exploration of sexualities (not *just* campness), the wit, the joie de vivre, the constant shifting of mood/style/boundaries etc etc.
November 19th, 2008 at 6:42 pm
I can’t not agree with Chris, but I also can’t agree with him. Skeletal Lamping is an incredibly dense, complex and layered piece of work. Like Jude says, it’s an exploration of sexuality, of identity and of popular music itself. It’s a brilliant, brilliant work of art, I could write an essay about the themes and motifs and devices used by Barnes, it’s undoubtedly one of the most demanding records I’ve ever listened to.
The problem is, of course, that to a casual listener, it’s just shit. Just a collection of sounds and beeps squeals and lyrics like “I’d like to roleplay Oedipus Rex”, the occasional good hook followed by a minute and a half of pure synth-based free-experimentation. The schizophrenia of the music is obviously integral to the point of the album, but it doesn’t exactly make it an easy or particularly desirable listen.
November 20th, 2008 at 1:39 am
jeez…personally i really enjoyed this. Some of the lyrics are absolute genius. In fact- this is easily in my top 10 albums this year……if not top 5.
November 20th, 2008 at 10:00 pm
Convincing review – I think I may avoid this.
I’m not so convinced by Adam’s comment – sorry Adam – that it sounds shit but that it’s actually a “brilliant, brilliant work of art”, but I’d better actually listen to the album before I weigh into any debate.
November 21st, 2008 at 2:08 am
Have you ever tried reading James Joyces’ Finnegans Wake? It’s widely acknowledged to be the height of modernism, an unrivalled work of artistry in the history of the novel, the finest novelist of the 20th century at the height of his powers. And yet, it’s also famously unreadable, in the traditional sense. It has no discernible characters, no plot or narrative of any kind to speak of, frequently fails to adhere to the most basic of grammatical rules, and creates entirely new words and sentence structures, making it feel at times like a foreign language.
I’d argue that, to a less extent, this is what Skeletal Lamping does to the form of popular music. Saying that it sounds shit is a bit too far, you’re right, but it’s an album that you’re only going to get out of what you put in to. If you’re willing to tackle it’s nuances and awkward moments, you are rewarded with a thoroughly engaging and interesting listen, but it’s not the kind of album you can stick on in the background while you do something else, it just won’t allow you.
Maybe I’m just talking pretentious waffle, but that’s the way I saw it.
November 21st, 2008 at 2:29 am
yeah, Jesu is an awesome band…
…oh! What? Of Montreal? Don’t care :P
November 24th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
I know where you’re coming from Adam, but I really can’t comment as I haven’t actually heard the album.