aethermead CD

aethermead, the newest offering and 20th fulllength album from of Montreal, finds the band revisiting sounds from their early years, while still pushing artistic boundaries with their iconic style of pop amp indie rock. Celebrated for their unique and prolific output, frontperson and primary songwriter multiinstrumentalist Kevin Barnes recorded the album at Brooklyns Honey Jar studios with audio engineer, Drew Vandenberg Faye Webster, Toro y Moi, with basic tracking done live to a 16track tape machine with Barnes longtime live band. I wanted to capture a quick moment together and to make onthefly, spontaneous creative decisions, says Barnes. It felt very liberating and exhilarating to have to start and finish an album in a months time.The result shimmers with indie pop elements of their 2004 release, Satanic Panic in the Attic, as well as the raw, live energy of 2013s Lousy With Sylvianbriar. Inspired partly from a recent move to Brooklyn, NY and a yearning for community, the album marks a shift in Barnes daily routines, with the albums title referencing a section of Prospect Park called the Nethermead, where Barnes walks their dog every day. I started a meditation practice soon after moving to help me selfregulate, says Barnes. I began to imagine I was sending all my destructive and useless thoughtsenergies into the ether. Barnes beautiful and melodic chord progressions are on full display with tracks like Already Dreaming, as well as the straightup rock amp roll banger Take The Form. Other highlights include the loungey My Zhe Zhe, as well as the bluntly sexual lead single, When. From the breakthrough brilliance of 2007s Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer to a steady run of boundarypushing releases, of Montreal have remained fearless sonic shapeshiftersequally at home crafting hookladen anthems as they are exploring surreal, experimental textures. The band039s prolific output has led to numerous latenight TV appearancesincluding The Late Show with David Letterman and Late Night with Jimmy Fallonand brilliant collaborations with artists such as Solange, Janelle Mone, and Jon Brion.On stage, they transform concerts into immersive spectacles of color, costume, and cathartic energy. The band has performed across the globe, gracing festival stages at Coachella, Primavera, Lollapalooza, Vive Latino and beyond, while also amassing hundreds of millions of streams worldwide. With a new tour on the horizon, of Montreal continue to celebrate their legacy while pushing boldly forward.