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Oct 7, 2013Swapping out the sonic and mental clutter for a host of centered, unconfused rock tunes is a curveball move, for sure, but the end product is the most memorable, lasting, and relatable albums in Of Montreal's extensive catalog, and easily one of the best.
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Oct 11, 2013Barnes seems playfully aware that his lyrics are Gordian knots, impossible for even the most devoted Of Montreal fan (including, possibly, himself) to untangle completely. And yet there are moments of clarity on Lousy with Sylvianbriar that prove Barnes is both his own harshest judge and most lenient jury.
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UncutNov 1, 2013Bitter but sweet enough. [Dec 2013, p.71]
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Oct 9, 2013Exactly where the album fits within the band’s catalog will probably be debated for as long as people talk about the band; where precisely you place it is irrelevant if the listening experience itself is this enjoyable.
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Oct 10, 2013In the grand tradition of rockers who have music to cure their own isolation and misery, Barnes and Of Montreal have entered a great one in the canon with Lousy With Sylvianbriar.
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Oct 7, 2013By producing an album without electronic stimulants, Kevin Barnes continues to explore fresh musical dimensions. And while it might not always pay off, Lousy With Svlvianbriar proves once again he has a songwriting consistency few can match.
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Oct 7, 2013The melodies, meanwhile, avoid obvious hooks, in favour of tension and knotty complexity. This rescues Lousy with Sylvianbriar from dreary rockism.
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Oct 10, 2013Lousy with Sylvianbriar won’t ever be viewed as the quintessential Of Montreal album. But sourness aside, it’s the healthy sound of a restless spirit.
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Oct 8, 2013Overall, Lousy With Sylvianbriar is a satisfying link in bringing Barnes’ musical progression full-circle, but at times he seems to forget what made him so good at this stuff the first time around.
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Oct 9, 2013The stronger songs sound intentionally raw and impulsive; the weaker songs like demos waiting to be fleshed out.
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Oct 8, 2013Whether exposing light or dark, or some blank hue in the middle, Barnes has all but bulls-eyed his status as a brilliantly daring artist on Lousy.
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Oct 10, 2013Each and every moment of Lousy With Sylvianbriar celebrates the breaking down of genre barriers that Dylan jumpstarted in 1965. It’s an album that looks to the past while illuminating perfectly the many talents of its contemporary creator.
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Oct 10, 2013Although Lousy With Sylvianbriar lacks the violent eclecticism of their 2007 classic ‘Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?’, it’s a genre-morphing triumph that reveals new surprises with each listen.
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Alternative PressOct 7, 2013Give this three plays and it'll stay imbedded in your autumn playlist. [Nov 2013, p.90]
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Oct 8, 2013What makes Lousy with Sylvianbriar a typically of Montreal album is Barnes’s effortless subversion of these classic rock idioms, his ability to distort the twangy harmonies and corn-fed heartland melodies with blindingly vivid, visceral lyrical imagery as deceptive and dark as it is gorgeously enunciated.
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MagnetOct 18, 2013In control, indeed, and not just of scathing language. His command over his songwriter's rainbow, from pop sprite to pastoral sage to rockabilly goat gruff, redlines on "Hegira Emigre." [No. 103, p.56]
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May 1, 201412th album Lousy with Sylvianbriar strums out a more agreeable amalgam for the veteran Athens, Ga., clown car.
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Oct 7, 2013[Kevin Barnes] sounds like he’s gotten more comfortable here, and while that doesn’t always make for the best music, in the case of Of Montreal, it resulted in one of their best.
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Oct 8, 2013Sylvianbriar brings a sunny openness to of Montreal’s ever-evolving cache with its sweeping changes in styles and instrumentation and adherence to more traditional song structures.
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Oct 7, 2013While of Montreal aren’t exactly strutting 2007-style again, their tweaked, re-energized sound has them strutting nonetheless. And that’s what they do best.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 36 out of 42
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Mixed: 5 out of 42
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Negative: 1 out of 42
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Oct 28, 2013
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Oct 22, 2013
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Oct 17, 2013