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of Montreal's Kevin Barnes

Aug 22, 2009 of Montreal By Mark Redfern Photography by Patrick Heagney

Of Montreal’s Kevin Barnes is currently in his Athens, Georgia, home studio working on the band’s tenth album, which will be titled False Priest and is tentatively due out next spring. We briefly spoke to Barnes this past Wednesday about his progress on False Priest, which he says is influenced by Parliament and the ‘80s No Wave scene.

“I’ve been listening to a lot of Parliament,” says Barnes. “I’ve got like The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein and of course Mothership Connection and there’s this crazy one called Funkentelechy vs. The Placebo Syndrome. I love it because it’s so playful. And it’s so funky and groovy. But I just watched this documentary of them and I couldn’t believe that we weren’t really necessarily influenced by them directly, because we have so much in common. Like the stage show is just so crazy, and there’s just so many people on stage, and wild costumes.”

A completely different musical scene has also recently inspired Barnes. “I’ve got a couple of No Wave compilations from the New York, early ‘80s, No Wave scene,” he says. “Like Teenage Jesus & the Jerks and people like that. I’m getting into that. So we’re kind of making this psychedelic, No Wave, funk album.”

In other of Montreal news, longtime member James Husband will be releasing his debut solo album, A Parallax I, on October 27th via Polyvinyl Records. In conjunction with the release, Polyvinyl is also reissuing five of Montreal albums on 180-gram vinyl (with download codes): Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies, Aldhils Arboretum, A Petite Tragedy, The Bird Who Continues to Eat the Rabbit’s Flower, and The Early Four Track Recordings. You can get all five issues and a pink vinyl of Husband’s A Parallax I as a package deal for $60.00 at Polyvinyl’s online store. Husband will be on tour this fall, supporting WHY?.

Click here for the full in the studio interview with Kevin Barnes.

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