Paralytic Stalks

Eleven albums in – and countless EPs, singles and compilations besides – pop fantasists Of Montreal are getting weirder and more wonderful with it.

Paralytic Stalks is a continuation of the Athens, Georgia band's wild flights of fancy but Kevin Barnes and fellow dandies have stamped on the accelerator here. The past 15 years have seen a perpetual evolution that has taken the band from pretty regular psychedelic/indie roots to some sort of biological peak with this frankly mad set of vaudeville, funk, mock-baroque and pure adult-oriented radio rock.

The album swoops vertiginously from the staunch, anthemic intro of Gelid Ascent to the 13-minute odyssey of Authentic Pyrrhic Emission, taking in a gorgeous, flowing piece of pop-funk in first single Dour Percentage that recalls 10cc at their most freewheeling, and stomping dizzily through the movements on Ye, Renew The Plaintiff. Nothing normal about the titles, nothing mundane about the music.

Of course, while the deceptively smooth Dour Percentage might find its subversive way onto the radio, there isn't much about Paralytic Stalks to trouble the mainstream. No matter – it's obvious by this stage that no commercial imperative is going to prevent Of Montreal making tremendous, unique records. Never too late to join the party.

Album review by Matthew Horton