Kicking off their tour to Treefort Fest, Kansas City art-rock combo Monta At Odds announces a gorgeous cover version of New Order’s The Perfect Kiss, off the 1985 album Low-Life.
During the worst of Covid, Monta at Odds kept busy with their annual New Order tribute show in Kansas City and recorded the track during the downtime. “The Perfect Kiss was too much fun to quit playing,” says the band, who decided to add it to their live set as part of the Peak of Eternal Light album release.
Although condensed, the band still keeps true to New Order’s version. The original, a bizarre explosion of synths and chirping frogs, is a delightful exercise in absurdism, self-produced by New Order and launching them into a more experimental realm of later tracks (like Shellshock, produced by Planet Rock mastermind John Robie). Bernard Sumner once told a GQ interviewer, “I haven’t a clue what this is about.” The only logical way to end the song, it seems, was with bleating sheep.
Monta At Odds recorded a studio version to capture the energy of the live performance in a quick session, so as to not overwork the production. “It’s a guilty pleasure for the band and you can feel the excitement in the performance,” they say.
Twenty years after the formation of Monta At Odds, brothers Dedric and Delaney Moore have held down the fort as their sound and lineup has evolved; collaborating with numerous fellow travelers and taking cues from Italian cinema, the avant-garde, and psychedelic disco-funk. For this version of The Perfect Kiss, Mikal takes lead vocals, Dedric and Kenn cover the synths, Lucas and Krysztof provide dual baritone leads, and Matthew adds the extra energy with his live drums.
“The Perfect Kiss” will also appear on Peaked, a new release of remixed and alternate versions of Peak of Eternal Light due in June 2022 via Record Machine.
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