Continued from page 16 with with “ music hurts the head , rock n ' roll is dead , that ’ s why it ’ s cool ,” introducing listeners to their [ pronoun ] latest act in what is now a three-decade-long rich pageant . Barnes arrived in Athens , Georgia , in 1996 , knowing it was a town that would embrace the torch they were carrying – for artists like David Bowie , Todd Rundgren , and Marc Bolan . This 10-song act takes the listener with Barnes ( and partner / fellow musician Christina Schneider ) as they make the monumental decision to leave Athens for Vermont after nearly 30 years . After opening with a psychedelic space romp opus , “ 2 Depressed 2 Fuck ” continues the studio play but a few thousand feet below the previous track , into a mawkish twist on “ 2 Legit 2 Quit .” Barnes tips their top hat to Todd Rundgren ’ s Something / Anything and A Wizard , A True Star on this LP , especially on “ Rude Girl On Rotation ” - a breezy ‘ 60s cloud ride with lilting guitar noodles and quiet layered vocals with juxtaposing lyrics like “ Stepping on scorpions to lose my erection ”; and on “ Soporific Cell ,” which showcases insouciant piano and falsetto mixed with psychedelic guitars and electronic atmospheric whirrs . The single “ Yung Hearts Bleed Free ” is ‘ 80s synth pop smattered with funk bass and guitar , and a Pet Shop Boys ( more spoken than sung ) vocal declaring cheekily : “ Now I ' m an old

hag ( young hearts bleed freely ) Sitting by the same ? river ( young hearts bleed for free ) With my prayer beads ( young hearts bleed freely ) And my anal beads ( young hearts bleed for free ) Hope I don ' t mix them up ”… Then at 2:29 , it ’ s as if Prince rose from the grave to provide a , well , perfectly Prince break . “ PI $$ PI $$” continues to bring on the funk with lots of Bolanesque primp and pomp . Let ’ s hope after Barnes took themselves out of Athens that , Vermont doesn ’ t take Athens out of Barnes . Appearing 6 / 9 at Lincoln Hall , Chicago

– Penelope Biver

7

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how you develop an artist , how you tell a story , and how you go about that between an audience and musicians ? It ’ s just like roulette - it ’ s crazy .

IE : Well , going into telling a story , the films you wrote and directed , like A Fantastic Fear of Everything and certainly Slaughterhouse Rulez , must have really expanded how you approach character development , right ? CM : I learned two things . I learned that I ’ ve always been a frustrated filmmaker ever since K . With songwriting and making records , I ’ ve always been frustrated that I don ’ t have a screen , as well - you ’ ve got to create the screen in people ’ s heads , so albums always feel like you ’ re going into a dark room , and the curtains are coming up , so it ’ s that visual sensory experience that you ’ re trying to create through the music . And the other thing I learned was that movies work on cosmic time cycles . Writing a song and even recording an album , you can do it fairly quickly if you ’ re organized and you know what you ’ re doing . But with movies , the gestation and the birthing process is so long , and so many people are involved , so many people trying to interfere , that it ’ s a whole different type of battle . When you write a song , you ’ re fighting primarily with yourself , and the battle is just a game to reach an audience . Whereas the battle with a movie is you ’ ve actually gotta make it yourself ; you ’ ve got to not let anybody turn it into something abominable or dilute or distort it . From committee interference to test screenings , all the horror story stuff , and

it ’ s all true , all the cliches are 100 % true . But as with anything in this world , you ’ ve got to fight to try and make something beautiful , and often , whether it survives or not will always come down to luck .

IE : Slaughterhouse deals with an ancient evil on a boarding school campus . Have you ever stumbled onto anything otherworldly like that in real life ? CM : I think that there ’ s ancient evil ; it ’ s real , but you know , ancient love is real , too , so what ’ s left behind is not all bad . So I ’ m an optimist , and I think that life goes on , even though we ’ re constantly being told that it ’ s about to end .

IE : You ’ ve said you hoped for peace with your new single , but everywhere I look , there ’ s no peace anywhere , it seems . CM : No , no . But I think there ’ s something wonderful happening . People are coming together across the world , and all these divisions that have been heightened by the politicization of everything , I feel that these divisions are all getting shattered , to be honest . Because ultimately , I think people are all getting down to their core human values , and as things get bad , people are starting to say , “ Well , actually , maybe I have more in common with this person across the road than I thought I did . Maybe we agree on a lot of things , whether it ’ s just basic human dignity or peace , for instance .’ And these are unifying things , and everything ’ s cyclical anyway , so when things get bad , they eventually get better , although it sometimes feels like it has to get worse before it gets better . People have got to understand each other a bit more in the midst of all the chaos .

Read our full interview at illinoisentertainer . com