of Montreal 7/28
As evening falls, a buzz of electric energy starts to vibrate from Fine Line with performances by Bijoux Cone and Of Montreal. A warm evening, one that anticipates thunderstorms, builds the tension before the show begins. Swarming crowds seek the growing line outside of the door. As we pass through security and navigate through mingling locals, I begin to settle amongst the stone-laden walls. Our show is still gaining participants, and as 8pm rolls in, our first performance commences. Adorned in a tank and proper bikini bottoms, Mme Cone thrills the audience with a low vocal range as we start out the show acoustic. A striking tenor from Portland, Oregon needs no introduction, as we are greeted by stormy vocals that will punctuate the otherwise synth-heavy, psych-adjacent tunes. Joined in song two with an instrumentalist in a straw hat, the atmosphere immediately gets funky. Saxophone and tambourine foreshadow the onslaught of melodic, disco-inspired pop that comes largely from the 2023 release “Love is Trash”. As the band continues to grow on stage, light banter in the crowd, a joke,and a smile are the harbingers of the deep groove that continues to pulse through the crowd. Echoing refrains and powerful drums bring the set to “Don’t”, also on the 2023 album. “Don’t make me feel unlovable, I’m tired of everything, I’m tired of me, I’m tired of you”, we hear, accompanied by a saxophonist who doubles on the keys. We hear a bit of insight on the progress of the tour with Of Montreal, citing karaoke shared between bands in pursuit of the The Sunlandic Twins' 20th Anniversary Tour. Finally the tambourine makes its mark, heralding in heartwrenching lyrics, eliciting a call and response from other band members, and finally reaching a great cacophony. At this point, my Lonely Blonde is half finished, the towering shoulders begin to cloud all 5 feet of my view, and I can sense the closure of our Bijoux Cone’s performance. Our brief but powerful set celebrates songs such as “Color of Love” off of the 2020 album “Magnetism”, fit with a clean growl on the saxophone, or so described by my resident woodwind expert.
Great excitement fills the room after the brief interlude between sets, and we are immediately welcomed into the weird world of Kevin Barnes, the brains behind Of Montreal. Celebrating the twenty years of the pivotal album “The Sunlandic Twins”, we are met on stage with morph-suited characters who will carry the story of the album through its entirety. The ensemble is lit in orange, and two figures with projections of the album’s cover greet the crowd in an uncomfortable, enticing posture, and will accompany the music in costume and performance as an unequivocal piece of the show. As the band and vocalist join the stage, the crowd excitedly joins in on the first song, “Requiem for O.M.M.2”, their first track of this albums’ catalog. The hook of this song immediately resonates with listeners spanning the median age around 27, chanting “ I remember every day/I never ever stop wondering/Wondering if you still think of us/I don't need a photograph/'Cause you've never left my mind”. Adorned in furs, vests, and generating a vivid energy within the crowd, Of Montreal retains the albums’ fidelity with song “I was never young” before the hit “Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games” that has accrued over 48 million streams. The audience mirrors a metronome in the great synchronization of their clapping, as the trance of this seminal album hits its stride.
Alongside the amazing instrumentalists and active accompaniment of dancers on stage, the background graphics of this group are absolutely bizarre, dynamic, and likely envied by Yayoi Kusama and the like. An interdisciplinary jam is the segue to the next series of songs off of this album, including “The Party’s Crashing Us”, a second favorite from the 2005 masterpiece. Shifting to a gentle, emotive interlude after dancing discoballs promenade across the stage with strobes, the choral harmonies return as does the remainder of the theatrical performance. The journey takes us between the upbeat dance-pop to the intermittent captivating solos, and we are taken through the formal production and resolve back to “Oslo in the Summertime”. After a fit of charades, our modest band joins the crowd again, this time with a special feature by the beautiful, handsome Elizabeth Wheeler. A celebration of encore features “Lysergic Bliss” off of the groups’ 2004 piece “Satanic Panic in the Attic”, a song that is escorted through the crowd with the endless meters of linked balloons. A Monday night was transformed into a genre- bending, time-traveling celebration that brings an abundance of absurdity to life. A cool, summer rainstorm escorts show goers home, symbolic of a cleansing peace to a night of rhythm.
Show Review: Elizabeth Wash