Art Snob Solutions

Somewhere between pop aesthetics and strong experimental scents… that’s where you’ll be bound to find Of Montreal... To be honest, they have the same weapons as Flaming Lips or Fiery Furnaces… Hailing from Athens, Georgia and named after a failed romance Kevin Barnes (the leader) had with a woman from Montreal, the band is a part of the Elephant 6 Collective. Discretely, these guys made a name for themselves with quirky, lo-fi, twee songs with a psychedelic touch. Then came 04’s ‘Satanic Panic in the Attic’ with a slightly more electronic sound (God, ‘Disconnect the Dots’ is just fabulous). “Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?” follows this line… Disco keyboards and psychedelic guitars tickle your ears… just that now the lyrical direction differs. The previous albums were full of humorous situations. The new album is more personal and darker… its lyrics revolve around depressions, paranoia, neurosis… it is so complex it scares you... it is hard to tell what direction it will take after the next chorus… in its schizophrenia, it creates Beatles-esque refrains (‘Sink the Seine’), Prince-a-like pop (‘Faberge Falls For Shuggie’), (what seems to be) innocent electro-pop ( ‘Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse’) and stylistic landmarks (‘The Past Is A Grotesque Animal’)… And it’s shinning a ghostly, surreal light… just like a weird dream that haunts you…

Of Montreal - The Past Is A Grotesque Animal