Of Montreal Trade Computers for Real Instruments on 'False Priest'

With computers having the ability to simulate every instrument under the sun, it's no surprise that artists would opt to stay at home and just do everything themselves. It's cheaper and you don't have to worry about crazy, stubborn producers. But for Of Montreal's Kevin Barnes, who started recording the band's new album, 'False Priest,' in that fashion, something didn't feel right. "I don't really have mad engineering skills," he admits to Spinner. "A curse, in a way, is that I record at home. I taught myself how to do everything but I don't really know what I'm doing."

Fans of Of Montreal's psychedelic dance-funk might beg to differ, but Barnes' decided to enlist the help of veteran producer/musician Jon Brion this time, even though he essentially had a finished album. "It was all recorded on my computer. I pieced together every little thing," he explains." I used a lot of soft synths, a lot of MIDI instruments and drum loops. The goal when going out there was to give it a more organic quality, more of a punch."

To achieve this, Brion and Barnes went in and replaced many of the computer generated sounds with actual sounds from actual instruments. While that's not a big deal to most musicians, it was for Barnes. "Jon and I replaced some of the software synthesizers with real '70s analog synths and replaced a lot of the digital piano with grand pianos," he says. "It increased the fidelity of the record and it helped create a more powerful impact."

Also helping out on the sessions this time is veteran drummer Matt Chamberlain, known for his work with Fiona Apple and jazz guitar great Brill Frisell, not to mention a longtime pal of Brion's. "He'd listen to what I'd done and try to duplicate that while also putting his own spin on it," Barnes explains, "not really change it in a dramatic way, but just give it a better groove, so it doesn't feel like it's pasted together."

'False Priest' is out now on Polyvinyl Records.