Lately In The Halfway Home

I’m very confused having listened to of Montreal’s 11th studio album. On most his albums of late Kevin Barnes has been dipping in and out of the madder part of his imagination, but on Paralytic Stalks he seems to dive in and stay there for the full 54 minutes. Whilst ostensibly an indie pop album, of Montreal as ever seem to throw in as many styles as possible into the album. I’m not even going to bother to list them there are so many different sounds on show. It’s an extremely dense album with some instantly catchy songs (Spiteful intervention, Malefic Dowery) in the first half of the album. The second half of the album is a bit more difficult however. Whilst the songs are still there they’re dragged out and filled with even more experimental sounds than usual, along with screeching strings drowning out the songs occasionally. Sometimes it works, like on the incredible “Ye, Renew The Plaintiff”, but at other times it gets too much and just becomes a mess (I’m looking at you Exorcismic Breeding Knife). It’s certainly a solid album and there are some excellent songs here, but it might be a bit impenetrable for casual listeners at first. I think it’s a bit of a grower overall. 7/10

Pick Tracks: Spiteful Intervention, Malefic Dowery, Ye Renew The Plaintiff