Of Montreal Detail New Album ‘Innocence Reaches’
Of Montreal have announced their new album, Innocence Reaches, which will be released on August 12th via Polyvinyl. The group’s 14th album follows the release of last year’s studio effort, Aureate Gloom, and their live album, Snare Lustrous Doomings.
Frontman Kevin Barnes said the style of the group’s new 12-song set developed from him listening to current music versus tapping into the past. “Forever I’ve been detached from current music,” he said in a statement. “I got into this bubble of only being in some other time period. I came up picking apart the Beach Boys, the Beatles and symphonic pieces. But last year, I was hearing Jack Ü, Chairlift, Arca and others, thinking about low end and sound collage. It was an extra layer to geek out to.”
On the new single, “It’s Different for Girls,” which Zane Lowe premiered on his Beats 1 Radio program, the whimsical, quirky vibe is juxtaposed against the song’s more serious socio-political themes about questionable gender norms. Barnes’ lyrics include lines like “when they are children, they’re de-personalized, aggressively objectified” and “it’s different for girls, they are mercurial creatures, not a masculine dissonance or sexual currency,” which he sings over bouncy synths.
The cover art was conceived by Barnes’ brother David, who is a new first-time father and expresses his “wonderment for the female anatomy” and was also inspired by trans issues, which Barnes said in a statement has “always been a part of my identity as a human” and is evidenced by his “gender-bending in performances.”
Innocence Reaches Track List
1. “let’s relate”
2. “it’s different for girls”
3. “gratuitous abysses”
4. “my fair lady”
5. “le chants de maldoror”
6. “a sport and a pastime”
7. “ambassador bridge”
8. “def pacts”
9. “chaos arpeggiating”
10. “nursing slopes”
11. “trashed exes”
12. “chap pilot”