“Wintered Debts,” the first peek from Of Montreal’s 2012 album Paralytic Stalks, opens with Kevin Barnes sounding like Elliott Smith, who doesn’t exactly tap into the exaggerated call-boy persona Barnes was sporting on 2010’s False Priest, which is a good start. The strummy guitar quickly fades away and he finds himself in Sgt. Pepper la la land before eventually falling into a rabbit’s hole of quiet, wintry orchestrations. And then when you think the song’s finished, it’s not.
Gone is the white-boy funk and 70s glam caricatures that have exceedingly come to characterize Of Montreal throughout the aughts. Along the way, there’s the line, “I tried to call you in my bathroom in São Paulo, but I was too drunk to formulate any kind of earthy language,” which nonchalantly exemplifies Barnes’ way of painting detailed images with words. If they keep this up, you can expect Paralytic Stalks on lots of 2012 year-end lists. (Year-end lists! Early hype! 2012, the best year ever!)
Listen here. It’s pretty awesome.