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Though it's a little long and a couple songs veer toward filler, it's a return to form for of Montreal and more than justifies the hype and attention their live show has garnered.
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Alternative PressOn paper the choice of Jon Brion, a musician and engineer best known for his work in film seemed perfect, but unfortunately it didn't temper Barnes' misguided vision to be the indie-rock Prince. [Oct 2010, p.116]
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Over-familiarity with Barnes' recent oeuvre aside, the material on False Priest just isn't as strong as the songs that comprise those other records.
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The hooks are more pronounced and the bottom end beefed up, which gives Barnes' R&B leanings a lot more dancefloor appeal and makes songs such as the buttery Solange duet "Sex Karma" sound better than anything Prince has come up with in years. But the affectations remain troubling.
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Jan 11, 2011On False Priest, Brion drastically widens the canvas, giving the music a newfound clarity, symphonic sweep and thick low-end.
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Of Montreal will always appeal to anyone looking for a world to get lost in. Is it too much to ask for him to visit ours once in a while?
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False Priest generally packs the kind of shock and awe that made 2007's Hissing Fauna such a delight. Throw in some deft work at the boards by one of today's hottest producers and a couple of guest appearances by notable female vocalists, and you've got one of 2010's most colorful releases. It's not for everyone, but that's half the fun of it.
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It works, if possibly only because Kevin Barnes is ridiculous enough to believe it works. And that is the genius of Of Montreal.
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Dec 23, 2010While some may regret Barnes's toning-done of quirkiness or ambition, False Priest plays to his best qualities while minimizing his weaker ones.
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On False Priest, Brion reins in Barnes' hyperactive tendencies and cleans up his sound mix, bringing just enough sanity to make his mad experiments succeed.
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Jan 5, 2011Some will surely find this preachy, yucky, or technologically compromised. I'm just happy I can say amen.
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Dripping with libido and pristine production, False Priest follows Barnes as he sows his oats from a variety of angles, some of them brand new, and with multiple partners to boot.
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MojoFalse Priest is a blur of swings and roundabuots, the sheer ambition of its crazed vision propelling it through any lull. [Oct. 2010, p. 96]
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False Priest is also Of Montreal's first and only adventure in hi-fi, a co-production job with Kanye West consort Jon Brion.
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Like most eccentric geniuses, Of Montreal's Kevin Barnes is as frustrating as he is brilliant.
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False Priest is billed as a more collaborative effort, both on the production end with musical savant Jon Brion and in the spotlighted duets with divas Janelle MonĂ¡e and Solange Knowles.
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False Priest doesn't do enough to reel folks like me back into the hype machine, mainly because the lyrics are simply too dense and abstract to enjoy in this setting.
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As False Priest beds down in its second half, the album still has a sonic charge, but the frenetic sense of discovery from the first half drifts away.
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Q MagazineRecorded at LA's Ocean Way studios, his 10th album sees his screwball pop vision go widescreen. [Oct 2010, p.112]
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This time, frontman Kevin Barnes is putting more flesh on his fantasies, camping up a Prince falsetto over psychedelic soul and New Wave disco.
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Of Montreal may keep getting weirder, but it's the band's garish melodic heart which makes them worth following.
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Although False Priest, Of Montreal's tenth album, is easily Barnes' most accessible, you can still hear his estrangement in the unpredictable chord progressions, the anxiously whimsical rhythms, and the distancing effects in the melodies that counter easy consumption.
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With False Priest, Barnes finally seems to be settling into his own skin, cherry picking from his long history and patching it all back together into something that Of Montreal could ride into the new decade. Just no more concept albums, please.
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On False Priest, the spirit of collaboration does for Of Montreal on record what it has done for the band's live show, building a thrilling, carnival-like atmosphere around Barnes' fractured perspective.
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Of Montreal's enjoyably bizarre 10th album fuses funk with indie, and sees Kevin Barnes taking his R&B-styled falsetto to unpredictably provocative places.
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In the final analysis, of Montreal represents a rare and comprehensive attainment of vitality in modern music.
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UncutBarnes' lyrics remain a stumbling block. [Oct 2001, p.98]
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Under The RadarHe's settled for another solid turn around the technicolor dance floor, albeit one polished to an appealing sheen by producer Jon Brion. [Summer 2010, p.80]
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Even though love and religion may be his False Priest, Barnes can't escape their torrid ties, and despite the struggle being a lost cause, there is much cause to rejoice on of Montreal's tenth album.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 25 out of 29
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Mixed: 3 out of 29
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Negative: 1 out of 29
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Jan 13, 2013
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Nov 30, 2010
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Nov 30, 2010