In the Studio: Of Montreal

By Kevin O'Donnell

March 21, 2008 3:25 PM ET

For Of Montreal's previous disc, Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? Kevin Barnes wrote freaked-out synth-pop tunes that explored the depression he felt when he became a father and moved to his wife's native Norway. "When I think about it now, I really wasn't prepared for adult reality," he says. He's since moved back to Athens, Georgia, to cut the band's ninth record (Barnes records by himself, assembling a group to tour), but he's not feeling much better. "Every day, I wake up, I never know if I'm going to want to slit my wrists or go jogging," he says. "It affects the music."

"Softcore" is a falsetto-voiced funk jam, "Paradigm Kisses" devolves into a dark explosion of guitar noise and "Our Last Summer as Independents" is a love song he wrote for his wife, Nina. But the weirdest cut might be "Plastis Wafer," about an incestuous brother and sister. "I always joke how each album is a parallel to a Prince record," he says. "This one is my Sign 'o' the Times, Lovesexy and The Black Album all together."