of Montreal: “it’s different for girls”

Photo by Chad Kamenshine

Anyone who’s seen of Montreal’s Kevin Barnes saunter onstage riding a horse knows the band likes to push buttons, but there’s substance behind the flash. Barnes spills his blood on the lyric page, detailing fizzling relationships while dressing up the woe in sunny duds. It’s the old adage come to life: you gotta laugh just to keep from crying.

Of Montreal’s new album Innocence Reaches returns to the fresh wounds of Barnes’ divorce, but his cutting wit is still intact. On “it’s different for girls,” the one-liners come thick and fast: “They are mercurial creatures, not a masculine dissonance / Or sexual currency”; “For every one psycho bitch, there’s ten thousand aggro pricks.” There’s truth to every barb. Throughout his career, Barnes has reveled in gender-bending, but here, he’s showing that there are real social differences between men and women. This song isn’t filled with empty empowerment platitudes; it’s about setting the record straight, all to a snappy disco beat.

“it’s different for girls” appears on Innocence Reaches, out now via Polyvinyl. Of Montreal plays the Mohawk on Friday, October 28.

–Art Levy // host, Sundays 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., producer, My KUTX

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