Pitchfork

How Of Montreal's Kevin Barnes finds the time to pump out as many tunes as he does is still a mystery to us, even after chatting with him about Of Montreal's recording process and the sound of their upcoming album, Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? (due January 23 via Polyvinyl). But we did uncover some information about the album's artwork and the band's touring plans.

We also received an exclusive mp3 of Hissing Fauna's leadoff track, "Suffer for Fashion", which can be downloaded by clicking on the link below. It's a propulsive, high-energy track for our fast-paced, high-energy, fashion-conscious culture. "If we're all gonna burn out, let's do it together," quips Barnes, "Let's all melt down together." Once again, the band puts a comical spin on consumerism.

And speaking of consumerism, Barnes also explained that whole Outback Steakhouse jingle thing. A clip of the jingle can be heard here. (Extra special thanks to super awesome Pitchfork reader Doug Williams for sending that in.)

Hissing Fauna, recorded both in Barnes' Athens home and Oslo, Norway, was put together a little bit differently than Of Montreal's previous projects. "I made the last couple records by myself in my home studio," Barnes explained. "And this one I did the same way, you know...doing arrangements, production work, and all that by myself, but then [band members] Jamey [Huggins] and Bryan [Pool] came in and helped me out a little bit here and there. The sound of the record is kind of similar to Sunlandic Twins, it's sort of in the same vein with a lot of programmed songs. It's got sort of a dance-y quality to it. Lyrically, it's a bit more confessional and introspective." After that tracklist, we can only imagine.

"A lot of the references in the song titles are references to cities or areas in Norway, because...I spent a lot of time in Norway last year, so that geographic region has played a large role in the shaping of the songs," Barnes commented.

And what about that (previously reported and publicist-quoted) "thoroughly rad help" he received from friends and family (James Huggins, the Late B.P. Helium, Nina Twin, Heather McIntosh, Georgie Fruit, and Alabee Blonde)? "I kind of went through this really heavy period of intense paranoia and depression and anxiety," Barnes said. "And everybody was really cool to help me get through that period. So I kind of got sentimental when I was writing the thank-yous, you know, like all these people were so cool even though they didn't play a part in the creative aspect of it, they were there for me, you know what I mean? I needed friends."

One family member, David Barnes (Kevin's brother), did lend a creative hand by putting together some special album artwork for Of Montreal. Barnes described it, saying "It's going to be interesting because it's not the typical album packaging...Since the record is more confessional...we wanted the packaging to represent that, so it's more like a letter, you know? Or like an envelope-- a sealed envelope or whatever-- when you open it up.

"He made these really beautiful circular art pieces...the actual layout of the packaging is unconventional too. It's kind of difficult to describe, but it's not your typical digipack or jewel case or whatever with the glare...It's definitely a cool, unconventional packaging."

But forget art for a minute-- let's talk the Outback Steakhouse jingle, which takes the Of Montreal track "Wraith Pinned to the Mist (And Other Games)" and substitutes lyrics about, yes, Outback Steakhouse.

Barnes estimates the good to "SELLOUT!!" feedback at about "80-20." "Most people realize that indie bands don't make any money, so when something like that happens, it's not like all of a sudden the band is a sellout...that's the thing that seemed kind of funny...it doesn't matter what the band did all the way up to that point-- you sell one song to a commercial and all of a sudden you're a sellout.

"It's like, 'Wait-we're still the same band, just now we have money we can put on this crazy, theatrical production on our next tour.' That was sort of the idea behind it. It was like, well, 'We really want to put on something really spectacular and we don't want to buy all our props at dollar stores. We actually want to put on a really good show, and there's no real money, real budget for that,' so the only way we could get it is if we had some weird thing like this that just falls in your lap, and it's like, 'well here's this big chunk of money.'

"And you have to be misrepresented in this atrocious way, and it sucks, and it sucks for everybody who loves the song, but hopefully it'll be worth it on...our January tour. We might be able to put on this crazy production like we really want to do. I think that will be interesting to see if people are like, 'Well, okay, it was worth it,' or people are like, 'Well, no, it still wasn't worth it because, you know, they sucked.'"

Wait, January tour? Of Montreal are currently in the process of confirming a "pretty massive tour" of North America (January-March 2007) and Europe (April 2007). Before that, the group will soon launch a festival-packed U.S. stint. Highlights include two free college shows, slots at the Pygmalion Festival and LA Weekly Detour Festival, and a gig at the Beck-curated NextFest kickoff concert. An unconfirmed November date in Mexico City is on the agenda as well.

The Late B.P. Helium, aka Of Montreal man Bryan Pool, has but one show lined up-- November 1 at Brooklyn's Northsix club. A few additional CMJ dates may be in the works. According to Barnes, the Late B.P. Helium might be writing right now, but likely hasn't started to anything at this point.

Of Montreal dates:

09-22 Lexington, KY - University of Kentucky Grand Ballroom (free show)
09-23 Champaign, IL - Canopy Club (Pygmalion Festival)
09-24 Nashville, TN - Mercy Lounge *
09-25 Columbus, OH - Newport Music Hall *
09-26 New York, NY - Irving Plaza (Next Music) #
09-28 Charlottesville, VA - Satellite Ballroom
09-29 Durham, NC - Duke University West Quad (free show)
10-07 Los Angeles, CA - City Hall (LA Weekly Detour Festival)

* with Grand Buffet
# with Jamie Lidell