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Premieres

Of Montreal’s ‘She Ain’t Speaking Now’ Is Full of Psychedelic Sickness

of montreal she aint speaking now kevin barnes wife nina lousy with sylvianbriar

Give Kevin Barnes some credit — the Of Montreal singer knows how to turn family woes into upbeat pop tunes. As it turns out, he was inspired to write just-out second single from the band’s upcoming LP Lousy With Sylvianbriar, during a period when his wife and daughter were extremely sick. That a ditty titled “She Ain’t Speaking Now” could sound so strangely gleeful would be disconcerting if it wasn’t par for the Athens psych-pop course.

“I wrote the song when both my wife and daughter were bedridden with a terrible illness,” Barnes told Rolling Stone, who premiered the track. “It was during the middle of our recording sessions for Sylvianbriar, so I was pretty paranoid about catching what they had. I would sort of hold my breath whenever I was near them. I wrote the song while fearing the worst. Fortunately, they both recovered.”

Yes, that’d be a real bummer if they didn’t, right? Thankfully, they’re still with us and show no signs of disrupting the Of Montreal album cycle further. Stream that manic little slab of ’60s throwback below, and pick up the Elephant 6 graduates’ 12th album on October 8, via Polyvinyl.