The Psych Ward–The Gay Parade
The Psych Ward–The Gay Parade
As a fan of the Athens, Georgia band Of Montreal, part of the Elephant Six collective, for over 20 years, I think The Gay Parade was the first great album in their oeuvre.
I bought their 2002 CD Aldhils Arboretum shortly after it came out, and while I appreciated several songs on it, it wasn’t fantastic. Part of that may have been that I didn’t care for the twee vocals of singer (and only constant member) Kevin Barnes. His voice eventually grew on me,
The Gay Parade is a whimsical, psychedelic concept album full of quirky character studies.
though, and I came to love a string of their albums from 2004 to 2007: Satanic Panic in the Attic, The Sunlandic Twins, and Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? After thoroughly digesting these releases, I bought The Gay Parade, released in February 1999 (making it over 25 years old and therefore eligible for The Psych Ward).
The Gay Parade is a whimsical, psychedelic concept album full of quirky character studies like “Jacques Lamure,” “Nickee Coco and the Invisible Tree,” “My Favorite Boxer,” and “The Miniature Philosopher.” It’s lo-fi, indie, frivolous, whimsical, and child-like. There are excellent compositions, like the ones mentioned above, and there are tracks that rely less on composition and more on interesting sonics. “My Friend Will Be Me” and “Y the Quale and the Vaguely Bird Noisily Enjoying Their Forbidden Tryst” have amazingly inventive psychedelic vocals. At the same time, other cuts feature warped and shimmering background sounds that enhance the psychedelic feel of this album.
Although Barnes’ use of the word “gay” in the context of the album seems to be a cheeky reference to how the word was used in olden days (such as the Gay Nineties of the late 19th century), it bears mention that the title of the album may have been a foreshadowing of his then private sexual orientation. In 2020, Barnes came out as non-binary, bisexual, and genderqueer. As a veteran of no less than nine Of Montreal shows in which he frequently displayed his gender-bending way onstage, I wasn’t shocked at the announcement despite knowing he had been married to or in a relationship with a woman for as long as I’d been following him.
Regardless of the personal details of his life, Kevin Barnes is an immensely talented artist who scored a masterpiece with The Gay Parade. This album began an amazing growth period that saw his band evolve from a lo-fi bedroom pop act to a full-blown sonic powerhouse.
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