of montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?

sceptre

How long has this forum been here then? Here's a print review of mine from October of of Montreal's latest album. Comments welcome, composition comments also welcome.

sceptre wrote:

of Montreal – “Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?”

Most people have never heard anything by of Montreal. That’s something of a shame as over the course of their seven studio albums they’ve explored foot-tapping music ranging from vaudeville to electronica with some conventional indie pop and occasional reggae thrown in along the way. “The Sunlandic Twins” was near-universally acclaimed by critics as one of the best releases of 2005 but it never translated into over-counter sales so still, most people have never heard anything by of Montreal. The unwieldy-titled “Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?” is their eighth studio album.

The band, named after a failed romance frontman Kevin Barnes had with a Canadian woman, was founded in Athens, Georgia (the town that also gave birth to REM, the B-52s and DJ Danger Mouse) and for ten years has been mixing experimental techniques with bouncy 70s British invasion and psychedelia. The music they make is the kind of sound that shouldn’t work but for some reason it just does.

This album will garner some mixed reviews. Barnes uses this record to continue his move into attempting to fuse electronica and jangle pop. For those who loved “The Sunlandic Twins” (or even managed to listen to it) this is either a blessing or a curse. “A Sentence Of Sorts In Kongsvinger” is one of the catchiest pop records I’ve ever heard. It combines a depressing lyric with an upbeat melody that I can’t stop putting on repeated play. It’s overproduced to a point at which Brian Wilson would be proud and shockingly it works. And yes, I’m gushing but I can’t get this one out of my head. The first half of “Labrinthian Pomp” borrows heavily from early 80s funk, sliding back into familiar electronic territory before making an abrupt stop. For me, if there’s a track on the album that just doesn’t fit in and doesn’t work, this is it, especially given that it’s followed by a track with more than a nod to punk, the rather splendidly bitter “She’s A Rejector”, which tells the story of being rejected by a snobby girl (then again, isn’t this what all punk songs were about?)

Irrespective of the breezy melodies, of Montreal have always had a well-placed sense of melancholy and this is an intensely personal album. For every “Suffer For Fashion”, deriding consumer culture in a ridonkulously comical way, there’s a “Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse” about a complete loss of personal control. That may sound depressing but it’s got a Pulp-reminiscent chorus that makes it hard to think that while listening.

Of Montreal continues to tease listeners with memories of peppy 60s pop intertwined with 21st century avant-disco. Get out your roller skates and plug in your iPod as this is a record that you’ll want to listen to while careering down a crowded street, knocking over old ladies in your speeding wake. It’s not necessarily of Montreal’s most accessible album but it’s got enough catchy choons to make it well-worth buying when it’s released. Buy it. Dance to it while nobody’s watching.

Of Montreal’s “Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?” is released in January 2007. The band is expected to play some European dates in April.