This past spring, of Montreal released its (very solid) sixteenth album Aureate Gloom, which was, once again, chock-full of lofty historical references and infectious disco beats. “Last Rites at the Jane Hotel,” the LP’s second track, is five minutes of mastermind Kevin Barnes’ sultry falsettos and whimsical wordplay. It only makes sense that the song’s official music video has the same amount of imagination, right?
Enter director/lead animator Matthew Cooper—the man behind this visually stunning stop-motion video—who really wanted to evoke the constant duality between sorrow and joy, which of Montreal excels at sonically, within the video:
The tone of the song’s lyrics are quite dark… but the music has this technicolor and upbeat kind of tone to it so I think that’s what I tried to do with the video. There’s a lot of morbid elements. I tried to represent those very vivid, bubblegum sort of color schemes.
Watch the video for “Last Rites at the Jane Hotel” below, and make sure to check out of Montreal’s upcoming US tour dates.
Aureate Gloom is out now via Polyvinyl.
of Montreal tour dates
August
21 – Greensboro, NC – The Blind Tiger *
22 – Frederick, MD – Flying Dog Brewery *
23 – Asbury Park, NJ – Asbury Lanes *
24 – Norfolk, VA – Work Release *
25 – Raleigh, NC – Lincoln Theatre *
September
02 – Oxford, MS – The Lyric ^
03 – Shreveport, LA – Bears on Fairfield ^
04 – Houston, TX – Walter’s Downtown ^
05 – Utopia, TX – UTOPIAfest
06 – Ft. Worth, TX – Shipping and Receiving ^
07 – Little Rock, AR – Revolution Music Room ^
08 – Columbia, MO – The Blue Note ^
09 – Champaign, IL – The Highdive ^
10 – Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall ^
11 – Grand Rapids, MI – Pyramid Scheme ^
12 – Detroit, MI – Majestic Theatre ^
13 – Columbus, OH – Park Street Saloon ^
14 – Buffalo, NY – Asbury Hall at Babeville ^
15 – Ithaca, NY – The Haunt ^
16 – Portland, ME – Port City Music Hall ^
17 – Providence, RI – Columbus Theatre ^
18 – Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg ^
19 – Charlottesville, VA – The Jefferson Theatre ^
20 – Asheville, NC – The Grey Eagle ^
October
21 – Nashville, TN – Mercy Lounge #
22 – Indianapolis, IN – Deluxe – Old National Centre #
23 – Kalamazoo, MI – Bell’s Eccentric Cafe #
24 – Des Moines, IA – Woolies #
25 – Madison, WI – Majestic Theatre #
26 – Omaha, NE – The Waiting Room #
27 – Kansas City, MO – Record Bar #
28 – Denver, CO – The Bluebird #
29 – Billings, MT – Pub Station #
30 – Missoula, MT – Stage 112 #
31 – Seattle, WA – Neptune #
November
01 – Portland, OR – Wonder Ballroom #
02 – San Francisco, CA – Great American Music Hall #
03 – Santa Cruz, CA – The Catalyst #
04 – Los Angeles, CA – The Regent #
05 – San Diego, CA – Irenic #
06 – Phoenix, AZ – The Crescent #
07 – Tucson, AZ – Night of the Living Fest @ La Cocina
08 – El Paso, TX – Tricky Falls #
09 – San Antonio, TX – Paper Tiger #
10 – Austin, TX – Mohawk #
11 – New Orleans, LA – The Howlin’ Wolf #
* w/ Mothers
^ w/ Surface to Air Missive
# w/ Diane Coffee
