Of Montreal: the band that fell to earth

Kevin Barnes (center) and Of Montreal (Credit: 230 Publicity)

At any given Of Montreal show, bandleader Kevin Barnes might make his entrance atop a white horse, sword-fight with a ninja and wear a suit made entirely of shaving cream. When things get especially out of control, he may even perform an entire encore naked, as he did at a steamy Las Vegas show on Of Montreal's last tour.

An indie lightning rod, Barnes has grown his band from an underground sensation into a full-blown punk-funk indie orchestra with a stage show that combines Bowie at his most extravagant with the mind-blowing ambition of mid-’70s Parliament-Funkadelic concerts. Sonically, he's honed his psychedelic pop-rock grandeur into a loaded, pansexual pastiche that imagines Prince playing in Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Initially part of the fabled Elephant 6 scene in Atlanta (which also included such indie legends as Neutral Milk Hotel), Barnes has been prolific, to say the least. Of Montreal's debut, "Cherry Peel," landed in 1997, and Barnes has since churned out roughly an album a year, not including various EPs and singles.

Like his spiritual forefather Bowie was back in the day, Barnes is a galvanizing figure in the music scene. He famously allowed his song "Wraith Pinned to the Mist (And Other Games)" to be retooled into an Outback Steakhouse jingle, leading many to label him a sellout. The cries got even louder when Of Montreal appeared in a short-lived but entertaining T-Mobile commercial—loud enough that Barnes was compelled to pen a sprawling public response titled "Selling Out Isn't Possible," published on music blog Stereogum.

"Selling out, in an artistic sense, is to change one's creative output to fit in with the commercial world," he wrote. "I've never done this and I can't imagine I ever will. I spent seven years not even existing at all in the mainstream world. Now I am being supported and endorsed by it. I know this won't last forever. No one's going to want to use one of my songs in a commercial five years from now, so I've got to take the money while I can."

While Of Montreal's 2007 album "Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?" was a relatively sleek affair loaded with funky pop nuggets, it also featured "The Past is a Grotesque Animal," a 12-minute opus that injects Kraftwerk robotics with Barnes' psychosexual healing.

Said psychosexual healing is at the heart of the band's latest output, "Skeletal Lamping." It's a far-flung concept album about fictional character Georgie Fruit, whom Barnes has described as a black transsexual in his mid-40s who's been through multiple sex changes. Instead of going for the breakout hit he is so clearly capable of, Barnes created an exceptionally dense collection of songs that are like mini-albums in themselves, piling as many ideas as possible into each one.

Barnes puts that same sense of wonder into packaging his music: He released "Skeletal Lamping" not only on CD and vinyl, but also as a digital download code bundled with tote bags, paper lanterns, T-shirts and more. The keepsakes all feature the Maxfield Parrish-esque art of Barnes' brother, David. The CD cover even unfolds into a kaleidoscopic butterfly.

See Of Montreal's psychedelic circus at the Hollywood Palladium on Nov. 22.