'Get God’s Attention By Being An Atheist' music video Review: Of Montreal taps into psychedelic pop bliss
Of Montreal have released a new music video for their song 'Get God’s Attention By Being An Atheist' on February 13 from their latest album 'UR FUN'. The new LP was released in January and pays homage to frontman Kevin Barnes' personal life, particularly in light of his relationship with Christina Schneider.
Of Montreal have gotten much attention from their debut in Athens, Georgia in 1996 for their usage of over-the-top colorful videos and musical extravaganzas of synth-pop. The fun music video for 'Get God’s Attention By Being An Atheist' is no different and features demons, a devilish character, cute kids and a whole lot of color.
Barnes described the new video in a press release, saying, “I wanted to use child actors because this song is an anthem to rebellion and f**k-all’edness. Anybody who’s spent any time around five-year-olds knows that they are the embodiment of punk rock élan." Barnes' nephew is featured on the new video and Barnes says, "My brother’s son plays the role of Baby Lanc, a sort of Pied Piper character that teaches other kids how to conquer their demons, and have a blast while doing it!”
The music video opens with Barnes wearing red gimp-like headgear and approaching his sleeping nephew. Barnes wakes him and after the boy dresses up in his own gear consisting of a long-sleeve black shirt with a skeleton design, some striped PJ bottoms and a similar mask, he begins to make his way into a garden. He meets a girl sitting on a bench nearby with an absurd silver demon with antlers approaching her from behind and the boy rescues her by spraying colored powder. The two of them continue torturing the creature with the powder till it eventually gives up and Baby Lanc hands her a gift of her own demon-slaying gear.
The two eventually meet more children minding their own business, playing in some leaves while two ape-like demons with heads that look like flower petals get a kick out of scaring them. This was their last move as now all the kids form an army of powder-wielding demon-slayers who want revenge.
'Get God’s Attention By Being An Atheist' features music enriched in psychedelic pop bliss and makes good usage of its dynamics between the softer and pumped up melodies. After a hard guitar riff on its intro, Barnes sings in a neutral melody and begins to add a notch up on the chord structure before leading to an all-out party chorus with lyrics "We don't wanna be safe, we want experience, We want it louder, It's crushing our ears, we don't give a f**k, We want it louder".
In an interview for Song Facts, Barnes shared his inspirations behind the song, describing it as "a cheeky song" which plays with "these different ideas of whether or not you can have blind faith or whether you need to antagonize God into believing in you". He says, "We're always worried about us believing in God, but it's more important that God believes in you" adding, "So it's playing off that idea, and also with the carpe diem chants in the choruses it's about not being afraid of life: not letting society or conventionality prevent you from exploring your psyche, exploring your sexuality, exploring all levels of your human experience."
The band will be kicking off an extensive North American tour on February 27 with Lily's Band, Lily and Horn Horse, and Locate S,1.
You can read a review on 'UR FUN' here, and watch the music video for 'Get God’s Attention By Being An Atheist' here.