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of Montreal

of Montreal

The brainchild of singer/guitarist Kevin Barnes, Of Montreal was among the second wave of bands to emerge from the sprawling Elephant 6 collective. A native of Athens, Georgia, Barnes was inspired to form the euphoric indie ... The brainchild of singer/guitarist Kevin Barnes, Of Montreal was among the second wave of bands to emerge from the sprawling Elephant 6 collective. A native of Athens, Georgia, Barnes was inspired to form the euphoric indie pop group in the wake of a broken romance with a woman from Montreal. He signed with Bar/None Records while living in Florida, subsequently moved to Cleveland and Minneapolis in search of compatible bandmates, and finally returned home to collaborate with bassist Bryan Helium (also a member of Athens' Elf Power) and drummer Derek Almstead.

Of Montreal's debut album, Cherry Peel, appeared in mid-1997, followed that autumn by an EP entitled The Bird Who Continues to Eat the Rabbit's Flower. From the start, the band buoyed its bright, flamboyant indie pop sound with elements of psychedelia and vaudeville; Of Montreal's earliest records also exhibited a lo-fi sound that bordered on twee pop, although the band steadily shed those influences throughout the early 2000s. After Helium left the group in 1998 to focus on Elf Power full-time, Almstead assumed bass duties, while keyboardist Dottie Alexander and drummer Jamie Huggins both joined the lineup. Nevertheless, the band's second album, 1998's The Bedside Drama: A Petite Tragedy, was recorded primarily as a Barnes solo project.

Multi-instrumentalist A.C. Forrester signed on for 1999's sublime The Gay Parade, while the retrospective album Horse & Elephant Eatery followed in the spring of 2000. The group continued with the release of Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies: A Variety of Whimsical Verse in April 2001 and Aldhils Arboretum in September of 2002, both of which were issued by the Georgia-based label Kindercore Records. With the subsequent folding of Kindercore, the departures of multi-instrumentalist Andy Gonzales and Almstead, and Barnes' marriage, 2003 proved to be an up and down year for the group. Barnes' wife, Nina, joined Of Montreal's lineup as the group signed to Polyvinyl Records and delivered one of their most celebrated records, Satanic Panic in the Attic, in early 2004.

The following year found Barnes exploring a bouncier, synth-driven avenue with the release of Sunlandic Twins, but things began to get complicated in his personal life at the same time. He and his wife moved to Norway for the birth of their baby. Deprived of familiar touchstones, Barnes fell into a deep depression and, upon returning to the States, continued to travel progressively downhill. He and his wife separated for a time, and she returned to her family in Norway with their new daughter. Through the emotional turmoil, Barnes concocted what was to be his darkest, most personal, and ambitious album yet -- Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? -- in 2007. Arriving one year later, Skeletal Lamping furthered that ambitious sound by emphasizing Barnes' outrageous alter ego, "Georgie Fruit," whose influence pushed the album toward funk and prog territory. An Eluardian Instance (Jon Brion Remix EP) followed in early 2009, featuring five remixed tracks from the previous album. Of Montreal's tenth studio release, False Priest, arrived the following year and featured cameos from fellow genre-hoppers Janelle Monáe and Solange Knowles. Songs written for that album but not used saw the light of day in April of 2011 with the release of thecontrollersphere EP. The following year Barnes revisited the raw emotion of Hissing Fauna with the album Paralytic Stalks, exploring themes of self-loathing, revenge, and romantic turmoil to create Of Montreal's most personal offering yet. At the end of 2012, the band issued the Daughter of Cloud compilation, a collection of unreleased b-sides and outtakes from 2008-2011.

Jason Ankeny
AllMusic.com
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songs
Song Name		Comments
A Celebration of H. Hare		4
A Collection of Poems About Water		10
A Dreamy Day of Daydreaming of You		18
A Man's Life Flashing Before His Eyes While He and His Wife Drive Off a Cliff into the Ocean		4
A Question for Emily Foreman		6
A Sentence of Sorts in Kongsvinger		38
Advice from a Divorced Gentleman to His Bachelor Friend Considering Marriage		5
Ah, My Kitten		2
Alter Eagle		5
An Eluardian Instance		36
An Epistle to a Pathological Creep		1
An Erroneous Escape into Erik Eckles		5
An Ill-Treated Hiccup's View of the World		2
An Introduction for Isabell		4
An Ode to the Nocturnal Muse		2
And I've Seen a Bloody Shadow		11
Around the Way		7
Art Snob Solutions		46
At Night Trees Aren't Sleeping		7
Authentic Pyrrhic Remission		1
Baby		3
Barely Asian at the Beefcake Horizon		1
Bat Macumba (Os Mutantes cover)		0
Beware Our Nubile Miscreants		15
Black Lion Massacre		1
Brush Brush Brush		2
Bunny Ain't No Kind of Rider		51
Buried with Me		1
Butterscotching Mr. Lynn		1
Cast in the Haze (Been There Four Days)		2
Casualty of You		3
Cato as a Pun		26
Charlie and Freddy		1
Chrissy Kiss the Corpse		17
Christian Son		0
Christmas Is Only Good If You're Not an Animal		0
Christmas Isn't Safe for Animals		4
City Bird		16
Climb the Ladder		5
Coquelicot, Claude and Lechithin Dance Aboard the Ocean Liner		1
Coquelicot's Tea Party		0
Coquet Coquette		17
Cutie Pie		2
Death Dance of Omipapas and Sons for You		4
Death Isn't a Parallel Move		13
Death of a Shade of a Hue		3
Derailments in a Place of Our Own		4
Dirty Dustin Hoffman Needs a Bath		3
Disconnect the Dots		30
Disguises (The Who cover)		1
Doing Nothing		4
Don't Ask Me to Explain		14
Dour Percentage		4
Du Og Meg		24
Dustin Hoffman Becomes Indignant and Wets Himself		1
Dustin Hoffman Does Not Resist Temptation to Eat the Bathtub		3
Dustin Hoffman Feigns Ignorance of Missing Bathtub		1
Dustin Hoffman Gets a Bath		0
Dustin Hoffman Offers Lame Possible Explanation for Missing Bathtub		2
Dustin Hoffman Quits Bathroom and Climbs a Tree		2
Dustin Hoffman Scrubs Too Hard and Loses Soap		6
Dustin Hoffman Thinks About Eating the Soap		3
Dustin Hoffman's Children Don't Enter the Bathroom		1
Dustin Hoffman's Children Enter the Bathroom		1
Dustin Hoffman's Tongue Taken to Police Lab Where It Is Used as Toilet Paper and Reading Material While on the Toilet		1
Dustin Hoffman's Wife Calls in Detectives to Dust for Porcelain Particles on Dustin Hoffman's Tongue		2
Dustin Hoffman's Wife Comes Home		1
Dustin Hoffman's Wife Makes a Sarcastic Remark, Cuts the Head off a Duck, Places It Where the Tub Was and Begins to Groan		1
Dustin Hoffman's Wife Seems Suspicious About the Absent Tub		0
Enemy Gene		13
Eros' Entropic Tundra		17
Erroneous Escape Into Eric Eckles		1
Everyday Feels Like Sunday		9
Everything About Her Is Wrong		3
Everything Disappears When You Come Around		6
Exorcismic Breeding Knife		0
Expecting to Fly (Buffalo Springfield cover)		0
Faberge Falls for Shuggie		29
Family Nouveau		2
Famine Affair		14
Feminine Effects		6
First Time High		0
Flunkt Sass vs. the Root Plume		0
For Our Elegant Caste		13
Forecast Fascist Future		14
Friends of Mine (The Zombies cover)		2
Fun Loving Nun		7
Gallery Piece		33
Gelid Ascent		2
Georgie's Lament		3
Girl from NYC (Named Julia)		8
Girl Named Hello		1
Go Call You Mine		4
Godly Intersex		4
Good Morning Mr. Edminton		8
Gronlandic Edit		50
Happiness + Love		1
Happy Yellow Bumblebee		5
Harvest Moon (Neil Young cover)		1
Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse		78
Hello from Inside a Shell (Zombies Enter the Harbor)		2
Hindlopp Stat		0
Holiday Call		0
Honeymoon in San Francisco		3
How Did You Get in This Song?		1
How Lester Lost His Wife		6
Hydra Fancies		4
I Can't Stop Your Memory		10
I Feel Ya' Strutter		-6
I Felt Like Smashing My Head Through a Clear Glass Window (Yoko Ono cover)		3
I Want to Have Fun		2
I Was a Landscape in Your Dream		15
I Was Never Young		15
I Was Watching Your Eyes		7
Id Engager		25
If I Faltered Slightly Twice		2
If You Feel You Must Go, Don't Go!		3
In Dreams I Dance with You		9
In the Army Kid		3
Inside a Room Full of Treasures a Black Pygmy Horse's Head Pops Up Like a Periscope		5
Ira's Brief Life as a Spider		6
Isn't It Nice?		2
It's a Very Starry Night		4
It's Easy to Sleep When You're Dead		7
It's Just So		2
Jacques Lamure		5
Jan Doesn't Like It		0
Jennifer Louise		4
Jimmy (M.I.A. cover)		3
Joseph and Alexander		5
Julie the Mouse		1
Just Recently Lost Something of Importance		6
Katie and Caroline		3
Keep Sending Me Black Fireworks		12
Kid Without Claws		2
Kissing in the Grass		2
Knight Rider		0
Kristiansand		0
L'age D'or		2
Labyrinthian Pomp		46
Lecithin's Tale of a DNA Experiment That Went Horribly Awry		4
Let's Do Everything for the First Time Forever		20
Let's Go for a Walk (Coquelicot Leaves the Frozen Island to Resume Her Work as an Efeblum with Claude and Lecithin in Tow)		7
Like a Tourist		3
Lisa Marie Blueberry		2
Little Rock		9
Little Viola Hidden in the Orchestra		2
Look at the Bell (Andy Instructs the Turkish Moths to Acquire Him More Bells or Else ...)		2
Lysergic Bliss		26
Make Out, Fall Out, Make Up (Love Is All cover)		1
Malefic Dowery		3
Maple Licorice		1
Microuniversity		0
Middle Class Ghetto		0
Mimi Merlot		7
Mingusings		9
Miss Blonde Your Papa Is Failing		10
Montreal		4
Montreal Makes Me Sad Again		0
My British Tour Diary		11
My Darling, I've Forgotten		4
My Favorite Boxer		9
My Favourite Christmas (In a Hundred Words or Less)		4
My Friend Will Be Me		3
My, What a Strange Day with a Swede		3
Natalie and Effie in the Park		1
Neat Little Domestic Life		1
Nickee Coco and the Invisible Tree		13
Nicki Lighthouse		3
No Conclusion		18
Noir Blues to Tinnitus		7
Nonpareil of Favor		31
Obviousatonuncio		0
October Is Eternal		2
Old Familiar Way		6
Old People in the Cemetery		4
On the Drive Home		3
One of a Very Few of a Kind		1
Oslo in the Summertime		24
Our Love Is Senile		0
Our Riotous Defects		5
Our Spring Is Sweet Not Fleeting		0
Pancakes for One		3
Panda Bear		5
Partizan Terminus		0
Peacock Parasols		1
Penelope		24
Plastis Wafer		22
Please Tell Me So		2
Predictably Sulking Sara		0
Psychotic Feeling		7
Rapture Rapes the Muses		21
Requiem for O.M.M.2		34
Rose Robert		2
Sadness Creeping Up and Scaring Away the Couple's Happiness		0
Sails, Hermaphroditic		0
Scenes from My Funeral		3
Sex Karma		3
She's a Rejecter		40
Sing You a Love You Song		3
Sink the Seine		12
Slave Translator		0
Sleeping in the Beetle Bug		6
So Begins Our Alabee		34
Softcore		17
Something to Be Laughed At/Feminine Effects		4
Spanish Dance Troupe		0
Spike the Senses		11
Spiteful Intervention		2
Spooky Spider Chandelier		3
Spoonful of Sugar (The Gants cover)		3
Springtime Is the Season		3
St. Exquisite's Confessions		15
Steppin' Out		0
Subtext Read, Nothing New		1
Suffer for Fashion		33
Tender Fax		0
The Actor's Opprobrium		14
The Autobiographical Grandpa		5
The Blank Husband Epidemic		2
The Couple in Bed Together Under a Warm Blanket Wrapped Up in Each Other's Arms Asleep		0
The Couple's First Kiss		1
The Events Leading Up to the Collapse of Detective Dulllight		10
The Frozen Island		3
The Gay Parade Outro		3
The Hollow Room		3
The Hopeless Opus or the Great Battle of the Unfriendly Ridiculous		5
The Inner Light		1
The March of the Gay Parade		5
The Miniature Philosopher		1
The Party's Crashing Us		31
The Past Is a Grotesque Animal		101
The Problem with April		5
The Repudiated Immortals		18
The Secret Ocean (Elf Power cover)		1
The World Keeps Going Round (The Kinks cover)		2
The You I Created		7
There Is Nothing Wrong with Hating Rock Critics		6
This Feeling (Derek's Theme)		9
Tim I Wish You Were Born a Girl		53
Tonight (Sibylle Baier cover)		0
Touched Something's Hollow		12
Triphallus, to Punctuate!		24
True Friends Don't Want to Do Things Like That		0
Tulip Baroo		8
Upon Settling on the Frozen Island, Lecithin Presents Claude and Coquelicot with His Animal Creations for Them to Approve or Reject (The Rejected Inventions Walk Towards the Reverse Magnetizer)		4
Vegan in Furs		19
Voltaic Crusher/Undrum to Muted Da		15
Waiting on the Weather		0
Was Your Face a Head in the Pillowcase?		3
We Are Destroying the Song		1
We Were Born the Mutants Again with Leafling		24
We Will Commit Wolf Murder		10
When a Man Is in Love with a Man		5
When You're Loved Like You Are		2
Where Eagles Dare (Misfits cover)		0
Wicked Wisdom		18
Will You Come and Fetch Me		14
Will You Let Me Into Your Dream?		3
Wintered Debts		5
Women's Studies Victims		22
Wraith Pinned to the Mist (And Other Games)		70
Y the Quale and the Vaguely Bird Noisly Enjoying Their Forbidden Tryst/I'd Be a Yellow Feathered Loon		4
Ye, Renew the Plaintiff		2
You Are an Airplane		5
You Do Mutilate?		8
You've Got a Gift		2
Your Magic Is Working		16

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