Well, I might have lied about this album being a “top 5 contender” in Pitchfork’s top 50 albums of the year, but I still like this album. I don’t care what they thought of it. False Priest is the band’s tenth studio album and for me, at points, it is their catchiest, most cohesive work yet. “Out Riotous Defects,” “Coquet Coquet,” “Sex Karma,” and “Famine Affair” are some truly shining moments. This album flirts with brilliance at many points, but at other points it just doesn’t work for me. In this sense, it is similar to Yeasayer’s Odd Blood.
What I mean by “just doesn’t work” is that there is just too much going on in the production. Anthony Fantano, of The Needle Drop, touches on this point in his review of False Priest, which is where I noticed this notion of “too much going on.” It’s interesting because if you look at a song like “Famine Affair” you can hear that there is less production niches, and instead more solid song writing. This makes for the strongest moment on the album. So, if Kevin Barnes, leader of Of Montreal, just steps back from the complexities of his production there is more to like. A song like “Hyrda Fancies” is a good song, but it is just too boasting in its production to me. Conversely, moments like “Our Riotous Defects,” seem very peculiar from the outside, but I really enjoy it for its wacky nature. It sticks out for its bizarre temperament but songs like “Hydra Fancies” and “Around the Way” do not have enough “weird” for me or just not the “weird” that I truly enjoy from Of Montreal. I hope you can understand that. It seems like a dumb concept, but let’s be honest: Of Montreal is a pretty out-there band. I don’t think it’s just me who wants and expects weird music from Of Montreal. This record has some amazing uncanny moments, but not enough. Like I said, where it succeeds, Kevin Barnes and company do it masterfully, but at other times it just doesn’t seem kosher.
Rating: 82/100
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