Of Montreal

PLAY Magazine
February 28, 2007



Surviving the stampede

JOSHUA VALOCCHI
Contributing Writer

Of Montreal still standing

Ten years ago, when hipsters were tripping over each other to complete their collections of Neutral Milk Hotel rarities and Beulah b-sides, who could have predicted that Of Montreal would wind up as the only Elephant 6 band that matters? That’s not to say that The Apples in Stereo and their undeniable cuteness are wholly useless nowadays, but comparing their New Magnetic Wonder to Of Montreal’s recently unveiled Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? is like comparing — well — Apples to oranges.

And before anyone gets all up in arms and begins raving about the beauty that was Elf Power’s A Dream in Sound or ranting about the brilliance of Olivia Tremor Control’s Dusk at Cubist Castle, let’s take a deep breath and play a quick round of “Where Are They Now?” Let’s see, Bill Doss, the driving force behind the Tremor Control has cast his lot with the Apples in Stereo and is currently their touring keyboardist. Bryan Poole (aka The Late b.p. Helium) disbanded Elf Power and now plays bass in Of Montreal.

Poole is, however, quick to point out that he was “in on the ground floor,” so to speak. “I was part of the original Of Montreal lineup,” explained Poole in a recent chat with PLAY Magazine. “But when Elf Power started to pick up steam, I quickly grew tired of pulling double duty and decided to focus on Elf Power. It was a tough decision for me, because Of Montreal was certainly more challenging, musically. Once Elf Power had run its course, I slid right back into the fold with Of Montreal.”

Once considered the black sheep of what was admittedly a pretty freaky sideshow of a circus family to begin with, Of Montreal has managed to edge closer to mainstream respectability with each successive release without ever really threatening to horn in on Nickelback’s profits.

In fact, the only exposure to Of Montreal that the majority of the general public has experienced is through that “let’s go Outback tonight” jingle which is a near note-for-note rendition of Wraith Pinned to the Mist (and Other Games) from 2005’s Sunlandic Twins.

As evidenced by the sale of the rights to Wraith, Sunlandic Twins toyed with — and achieved some — commercial success, albeit mostly through college radio and indie cliques. While Sunlandic Twins marked somewhat of a departure for the band, eschewing the creative characters and narrative formats of their more organic earlier albums for an electro-pop vibe, the album retained Of Montreal’s signature intellectualism. Actually, intellectualism may be a bit of a stretch, but the intimidatingly dense lyricism woven throughout Sunlandic’s 13 tracks (17 if you count the bonus EP) sure does contain a slew of SAT words.

Given the surprising cohesiveness of Sunlandic Twins and its serendipitous underground popularity, expectations were high for its follow-up, Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? Released just last month, Hissing Fauna delivers, one-upping the electro-popera of Sunlandic with layers of synthetic funk underpinning the foundation for some downright personal lyrics from frontman Kevin Barnes.

Over the course of the past few Of Montreal efforts, Barnes has evolved into a virtual one-man wrecking crew. With few exceptions, Barnes wrote, produced and performed every track on both Sunlandic and Hissing Fauna.

“For a while there, Of Montreal was more of a collaborative effort, with Dottie (Alexander) and Jamey (Huggins) pitching in on songwriting and instrumentation,” explains Poole. “Then Kevin started working alone on (2004’s) Satanic Panic in the Attic and he was so happy with the outcome that it became logical to him to pretty much go it alone for the next two albums as well.”

Nowhere has this become more evident than in the songwriting featured on Hissing Fauna. It’s no great secret that Barnes was battling severe depression throughout the entire making of the album. He and wife Nina and daughter Alabee fled to Nina’s native Norway — largely to take advantage of the country’s liberal healthcare system. When it became apparent that the move did little to lighten Barnes’ emotional and mental burden, he and Nina separated, a situation that merely deepened his depression.

In what now appears to be a stroke of genius, Barnes chose to compose music that would elevate his mood. Peppering his happy-go-lucky electrofunk with heart-wrenching lyricism, Barnes planted the seeds for what would evolve into a stunning and openly emotional album.

As the track numbers rise, so, too, does the general mood of the album. In fact, the entire second half of the disc comes off as a pseudo-tribute to Prince’s funkier works and features Georgie Fruit, Barnes’ glam-rock alter ego (think Ziggy Stardust) on vocals.

Apparently, Barnes’ attempts at self-medication and conflict resolution through song were fairly successful. Since finishing Hissing Fauna, Barnes has been reunited with his family and has moved back to the States. Additional reports from the road paint the current stage show as simply mind-blowing, featuring a vast array of multimedia effects alongside elaborate costuming and theatrics. While the set lists have been heavily weighted with selections from Hissing Fauna, several cities have been gifted with creative cover songs ranging from Os Mutantes’ Bat Macumba to David Bowie’s Moonage Daydream to — perhaps most appropriately — Gnarls Barkley’s Crazy.

Ten years after the Elephant 6 craze and it seems like these cats are just getting warmed up. Kevin Barnes has apparently found his muse and slayed some demons along the way. Watching the whole ordeal play itself out live should be quite a spectacle. I wouldn’t recommend skipping out on this one.