About a year removed from delivering the surpriseRune HuskEP, Kevin Barnes has announced a new full-length LP as Of Montreal.
TitledWhite Is Relic/Irrealis Mood, the album will arrive March 9 through Polyvinyl. To give a taste the record, Barnes has also shared new track “Paranoiac Intervals/Body Dysmorphia,” which you can hear in the player below. You can also watch a video for the track over here on Apple Music.
In a lengthy statement, Barnes explained the album was influenced extended dance mixes pop singles from the 1980s.
“It’s so cool how a lot the ’80s hits had these really intricate and interesting longer versions that wouldn’t get played on the radio and could only be heard in the clubs,” he wrote. “I used that template with these tracks, I wanted them all to feel like the extended ‘club edit’ album tracks.”
As for the album’s two titles, Barnes explains that “White Is Relic was inspired by James Baldwin’s writings regardingthe creation and propagation a toxic American White identity,” while “an Irrealis Mood is alinguistic indicator that something isn’t yet reality but does have the potential to become so.”
Read Barnes’ full statement below.
Two important events occurred during the making White Is Relic/Irrealis Mood. I became “Simulated Reality” paranoid and I fell in LOVE.
Well a lot more happened during the process writing and recording, but those are the two big ones. I also reached a healthy point self-forgiveness for my failed marriage and became deeply educated in the lies America the Great.
I feel like a switch was recently turned on in my brain and now I’m beginning to see through the lies that have been fed to me my whole life by the masters media and by those who control and manipulate the narrative our cultural identity and social order.
My paranoia began during the presidential election cycle and reached a dangerous peak shortly after the inauguration. In the meantime I watched and read countless works art in a mad effort to be reminded how many truly brilliant people there are living/struggling among us and to try to maintain a positive outlook. The works Angela Davis, Noam Chomsky, Chris Kraus, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and the Autobiographies Malcolm X and Mark E Smith were all great inspirations, to name a few.
Musically, I was very inspired by the extended dance mixes that people used to make for pop singles back in the ’80s. It’s so cool how a lot the 80’s hits had these really intricate and interesting longer versions that wouldn’t get played on the radio and could only be heard in the clubs. I used that template with these tracks, I wanted them all to feel like the extended “club edit” album tracks.
I also decided to abandon the “live band in a room” approach that I had been using on the recent albums and work more on my own or remotely with collaborators. I used the same drum sample packs throughout because I wanted the album to have a rhythmic continuity to it. I wanted the drums to have a strong and consistent identity, similar to how Prince’s Linn Electronics LM-1 drum machine played such an important role on his classic albums. Zac Colwell also played a huge role on this album, adding saxophones and synths to most the songs. I also got a lot help from long time collaborators, and ” Montreal” touring members, Clayton Rychlik and JoJo Glidewell.
The two title concept came to me when I was thinking about how difficult it is to frame the message a song with just one title, because so ten the songs are about so many different subjects. ‘White Is Relic’ was inspired by James Baldwin’s writings regarding the creation and propagation a toxic American White identity. I’ve come to learn how it’s just a tool wielded by the 1% to give poor white people a false sense superiority in an effort to keep the masses placated and numb to how deeply we’re all getting fucked by our capitalist rulers. An ‘Irrealis Mood’ is a linguistic indicator that something isn’t yet reality but does have the potential to become so.
I’m always searching for new identities so this concept the death “Whiteness” appeals to me greatly. Might be the only way to save the world.
Of Montreal have also announced a U.S. tour in support the new album. You can find all the dates revealed so far below.
Tour dates:
03/03 Mexico City, Mexico – NRMAL
03/10 Savannah, GA – Ships Of The Sea Museum – Savannah Stopover
03/22 Athens, GA – 40 Watt Club
03/23 Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle
03/24 Richmond, VA – The Broadberry
03/25 Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
03/26 Boston, MA – Paradise Rock Club
03/27 Maspeth, NY – Knockdown Center
03/28 Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer
03/29 Millvale, PA – Mr. Small’s Theatre
03/30 Cleveland, OH – Beachland Ballroom
03/31 Pontiac, MI – Croot Ballroom
04/01 Kalamazoo, MI – Bell’s Eccentric Caf
04/02 Milwaukee, WI – Turner Hall
04/03 Minneapolis, MN – Cedar Cultural Center
04/04 Des Moines, IA – Wooly’s
04/05 Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall
04/06 Cincinnati, ON – The Woodward Theater
04/07 Chattanooga, TN – Revelry Room
04/24 Asheville, TN – The Grey Eagle*
04/25 Nashville, TN – Basement East*
04/26 Tulsa, OK – Cain’s Ballroom*
04/27 Kansas City, MO – The Record Bar*
04/28 Denver, CO – Bluebird Theater*
04/29 Salt Lake City, UT – Urban Lounge*
05/01 Seattle, WA – Neumos*
05/02 Portland, OR – Wonder Ballroom*
05/03 Berkeley, CA – UC Theatre*
05/04 Los Angeles, CA – Teragram Ballroom*
05/05 San Diego, CA – SOMA*
05/06 Phoenix, AZ – Crescent Ballroom*
05/07 Albuquerque, NM – Sister*
05/08 Fort Worth, TX – Shipping and Receiving*
05/09 Austin, TX – Mohawk*
05/10 New Orleans, LA – The Howlin’ Wolf*
05/11 Memphis, TN – 1884 Lounge – Minglewood Hall*
05/12 Birmingham, AL – Saturn*
* with Locate S, 1
