Halloween night is a perfect time to see of Montreal. Kevin Barnes and crew bring a very intense Flaming Lips vibe to their stage shows with costumes, props, and showers of glitter-explosions. Much of their music is also about misdirection, hiding intense existential dread underneath a caked-on veneer of psychedelic pop music. Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?, their arguable masterpiece, is a hyper-literate concept album that details a break-up, subsequent emotional breakdown, resulting anti-depressants, and eventual reuniting, all told using elaborate metaphors and a Bowie-esque alter-ego transformation story arc.
One of the bands to come out of the Elephant Six collective (along with Neutral Milk Hotel, The Apples in Stereo, Olivia Tremor Control, and Elf Power among others), of Montreal has been generating a very steady amount of material for almost 20 years, dropping 11 albums and innumerable EPs, singles, and compilations along the way. While there might have been some critical inconsistencies along the way, no one can argue that mastermind Kevin Barnes has not stayed absolutely true to his muse or that the evolution of his output has been anything less than fascinating.
It’s going to be interesting to see how songs from the new album, Lousy with Sylvianbriar, translate to the stage. of Montreal is known for going BIG live, and the new LP is more introspective and intimate than previous efforts. This of course is not to say that Lousy with Sylvianbriar isn’t a nonstop barrage of inventively layered sonics. The new album dips into a bit more of a twangy country vibe than previous efforts, which again will be fun to see pushed through the filter of what will surely be a boombastic stage-show.
If you caught of Montreal last time they came through town (a free show at Union South back in 2011), you discovered that regardless of the time of year they attract an audience that tends to come in costume anyway, so their show at the Majestic, which is being advertised as “Nightmare on King Street: A Halloween Ball,” should crank the visual volume of the crowd up to well over 11.
Also on the bill are La Luz, a poppy garage rock band from Seattle, WA comprised of four ladies whose ability to channel the sweet doo-wop harmonies and surf rhythms of yesteryear is not to be underestimated. They’ll be performing songs form their new album, It’s Alive, recently released on Hardly Art.