Of Montreal
The brainchild of multifaceted musician Kevin Barnes, Of Montreal was among the second wave of bands to emerge from the sprawling Elephant 6 collective in the 1990s. A style-shifting, influence-assimilating songwriter with a notably wordy lyrical style and formidable vocabulary, Barnes debuted the project with a tuneful lo-fi sound indebted to the psychedelic pop of the Beatles on 1997's Cherry Peel. With a rotating membership, Of Montreal went on to experiment further with '60s psychedelia on albums including 1999's The Gay Parade, eventually traversing more expansive indie pop (2004's Satanic Panic in the Attic), darker glam (2007's Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?), and indie electro-funk (2010's False Priest). Their highest-charting album, False Priest, reached number 34 on the Billboard 200. The group's 11th album, 2012's Paralytic Stalks, took their increasingly intricate psych-pop to new levels of density before the following year's Lousy with Sylvianbriar presented an unpredictably straightforward folk-rock. Still defying expectations, 2015's Aureate Gloom delved into proto-punk inspirations. Along the way, Of Montreal managed to gain a reputation for both sinuous musical modes and sharp pop hooks, and for lyrics that navigate detached (if warped) observation, personal heartbreak, and incisive sociopolitical commentary. Also a beloved live act known to employ elaborate costumes, role-playing, props, and supporting cast members on some tours -- and encouraging audiences of all persuasions -- Of Montreal issued the career-spanning live set Snare Lustrous Doomings in 2015. With Barnes' personal life influencing the project's musical whims more and more with time, Of Montreal's 16th studio album, 2020's Ur Fun, was a solo effort that reflected relationship stability with a club-friendly dance-rock. 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. Barnes 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 later in the year by an EP entitled The Bird Who Continues to Eat the Rabbit's Flower. From the start, the band buoyed their bright, flamboyant indie pop sound with elements of psychedelia and vaudeville. 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 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 they signed to Polyvinyl Records and delivered one of the project's 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 their personal life at the same time. Barnes and their 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. The couple separated for a time, and the new mother returned to her family in Norway with their daughter. Through the emotional turmoil, Barnes concocted what was to be their darkest, most personal, and ambitious album yet -- Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? -- in 2007. It became their commercial breakthrough, peaking at number 72 on the Billboard 200. 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. It cracked the Top 40 of the U.S. album chart. An Eluardian Instance (Jon Brion Remix EP) followed in early 2009, featuring five remixed tracks from the previous album. Climbing to a career-high 34 on the Billboard 200, Of Montreal's tenth studio release, False Priest, arrived the following year with 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 2011 with the release of an EP entitled thecontrollersphere. 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 to that point. At the end of 2012, the band issued the Daughter of Cloud compilation, a collection of unreleased B-sides and outtakes from 2008 to 2011. Arriving in 2013, the full-length Lousy with Sylvianbriar was a huge departure for Barnes' project, finding them recording live to tape with a host of studio musicians, making an album's worth of roots rock-styled compositions indebted to the influence of Neil Young, the Rolling Stones, and other '70s FM radio superstars. After separating from their spouse of ten years and touring heavily into 2014, Barnes took a two-week break in New York City in the spring and wrote much of the material for their 13th record, Aureate Gloom. The history of the '70s CBGB music scene and the aftermath of their separation inspired the album's raw, confessional lyrics and punk rock edge. Recorded at Sonic Ranch Studios outside of El Paso, Texas, with the same core group of musicians as Lousy with Sylvianbriar -- keyboardist Jojo Glidewell, guitarist Bennett Lewis, bassist Bob Parins, and drummer Clayton Rychlik -- it was released in early 2015. The group's first live recording, the 19-track Snare Lustrous Doomings, which captured October 2014 performances in Portland and San Francisco with the same lineup, was released later in 2015. The following year saw Barnes and company embrace updated, synth-infused glam pop for Innocence Reaches, their 14th studio album and ninth with Polyvinyl. The Rune Husk EP appeared in 2017, and found them returning to a more classic '70s style of glitter rock, but Of Montreal quickly re-embraced synths on 2018's White Is Relic/Irrealis Mood. It took inspiration from the practice of releasing extended dance mixes of pop singles in the '80s. Barnes followed that with a hits-minded dance-rock on 2020's Ur Fun, which, except for backing vocals by partner Christina Schneider (Locate S,1), was performed and recorded by Barnes alone at their Athens home studio.© Jason Ankeny & Marcy Donelson /TiVo Read more
The brainchild of multifaceted musician Kevin Barnes, Of Montreal was among the second wave of bands to emerge from the sprawling Elephant 6 collective in the 1990s. A style-shifting, influence-assimilating songwriter with a notably wordy lyrical style and formidable vocabulary, Barnes debuted the project with a tuneful lo-fi sound indebted to the psychedelic pop of the Beatles on 1997's Cherry Peel. With a rotating membership, Of Montreal went on to experiment further with '60s psychedelia on albums including 1999's The Gay Parade, eventually traversing more expansive indie pop (2004's Satanic Panic in the Attic), darker glam (2007's Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?), and indie electro-funk (2010's False Priest). Their highest-charting album, False Priest, reached number 34 on the Billboard 200. The group's 11th album, 2012's Paralytic Stalks, took their increasingly intricate psych-pop to new levels of density before the following year's Lousy with Sylvianbriar presented an unpredictably straightforward folk-rock. Still defying expectations, 2015's Aureate Gloom delved into proto-punk inspirations. Along the way, Of Montreal managed to gain a reputation for both sinuous musical modes and sharp pop hooks, and for lyrics that navigate detached (if warped) observation, personal heartbreak, and incisive sociopolitical commentary. Also a beloved live act known to employ elaborate costumes, role-playing, props, and supporting cast members on some tours -- and encouraging audiences of all persuasions -- Of Montreal issued the career-spanning live set Snare Lustrous Doomings in 2015. With Barnes' personal life influencing the project's musical whims more and more with time, Of Montreal's 16th studio album, 2020's Ur Fun, was a solo effort that reflected relationship stability with a club-friendly dance-rock.
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. Barnes 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 later in the year by an EP entitled The Bird Who Continues to Eat the Rabbit's Flower. From the start, the band buoyed their bright, flamboyant indie pop sound with elements of psychedelia and vaudeville. 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 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 they signed to Polyvinyl Records and delivered one of the project's 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 their personal life at the same time. Barnes and their 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. The couple separated for a time, and the new mother returned to her family in Norway with their daughter. Through the emotional turmoil, Barnes concocted what was to be their darkest, most personal, and ambitious album yet -- Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? -- in 2007. It became their commercial breakthrough, peaking at number 72 on the Billboard 200.
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. It cracked the Top 40 of the U.S. album chart. An Eluardian Instance (Jon Brion Remix EP) followed in early 2009, featuring five remixed tracks from the previous album. Climbing to a career-high 34 on the Billboard 200, Of Montreal's tenth studio release, False Priest, arrived the following year with 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 2011 with the release of an EP entitled thecontrollersphere. 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 to that point. At the end of 2012, the band issued the Daughter of Cloud compilation, a collection of unreleased B-sides and outtakes from 2008 to 2011.
Arriving in 2013, the full-length Lousy with Sylvianbriar was a huge departure for Barnes' project, finding them recording live to tape with a host of studio musicians, making an album's worth of roots rock-styled compositions indebted to the influence of Neil Young, the Rolling Stones, and other '70s FM radio superstars. After separating from their spouse of ten years and touring heavily into 2014, Barnes took a two-week break in New York City in the spring and wrote much of the material for their 13th record, Aureate Gloom. The history of the '70s CBGB music scene and the aftermath of their separation inspired the album's raw, confessional lyrics and punk rock edge. Recorded at Sonic Ranch Studios outside of El Paso, Texas, with the same core group of musicians as Lousy with Sylvianbriar -- keyboardist Jojo Glidewell, guitarist Bennett Lewis, bassist Bob Parins, and drummer Clayton Rychlik -- it was released in early 2015. The group's first live recording, the 19-track Snare Lustrous Doomings, which captured October 2014 performances in Portland and San Francisco with the same lineup, was released later in 2015.
The following year saw Barnes and company embrace updated, synth-infused glam pop for Innocence Reaches, their 14th studio album and ninth with Polyvinyl. The Rune Husk EP appeared in 2017, and found them returning to a more classic '70s style of glitter rock, but Of Montreal quickly re-embraced synths on 2018's White Is Relic/Irrealis Mood. It took inspiration from the practice of releasing extended dance mixes of pop singles in the '80s. Barnes followed that with a hits-minded dance-rock on 2020's Ur Fun, which, except for backing vocals by partner Christina Schneider (Locate S,1), was performed and recorded by Barnes alone at their Athens home studio.
© Jason Ankeny & Marcy Donelson /TiVo
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The Past is a Grotesque Animal
Of Montreal
Alternative & Indie - Released by Polyvinyl Records on Jun 28, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
I Feel Safe with You, Trash
Of Montreal
Pop - Released by Sybaritic Peer on Mar 5, 2021
This seventeenth album by the still-prolific band from Athens, Georgia (just like R. E. M.) which Kevin Barnes has led since 1997, includes no fewer t ...
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?
Of Montreal
Alternative & Indie - Released by Polyvinyl Records on Jan 23, 2007
After an impressive showing with 2004's Satanic Panic in the Attic and a jubilant follow-up in 2005's Sunlandic Twins, Of Montreal captain Kevin Barne ...
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Satanic Panic in the Attic (of Montreal)
Of Montreal
Indie Pop - Released by Polyvinyl Records on Apr 6, 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Aldhils Arboretum
Of Montreal
Alternative & Indie - Released by Polyvinyl Records on Sep 10, 2002
Intended as an "album of singles" in favor of diminishing their normal proclivities toward conceptual grandiosity and musical adventurousness, Aldhils ...
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
False Priest (of Montreal)
Of Montreal
Indie Pop - Released by Polyvinyl Records on Sep 13, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Innocence Reaches
Of Montreal
Alternative & Indie - Released by Polyvinyl Records on Aug 12, 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Empyrean Abattoir (Almost Live from Joyful Noise)
Of Montreal
Alternative & Indie - Released by Joyful Noise Recordings on Jul 16, 2021
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? (Of Montreal)
Of Montreal
Indie Pop - Released by Polyvinyl Records on Jan 23, 2007
After an impressive showing with 2004's Satanic Panic in the Attic and a jubilant follow-up in 2005's Sunlandic Twins, Of Montreal captain Kevin Barne ...
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Sunlandic Twins
Of Montreal
Alternative & Indie - Released by Polyvinyl Records on Apr 12, 2005
Kevin Barnes' seventh Of Montreal album continues in their traditional vein of toying and teasing our memories of 1960s pop, fed through whichever oth ...
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
UR FUN
Of Montreal
Alternative & Indie - Released by Polyvinyl Records on Jan 17, 2020
The album cover, which doesn’t resemble any previous covers from the group, is a nod to an obsession of different eras, from the 50s to the 80s. This ...
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Cherry Peel
Of Montreal
Rock - Released by Bar - None Records on Jul 15, 1997
Hailing from the '90s-resurgent Athens, Georgia scene, unofficial home base to the Elephant 6 collective, Of Montreal is perhaps the least publicized ...
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Skeletal Lamping
Of Montreal
Alternative & Indie - Released by Polyvinyl Records on Oct 13, 2008
During the closing moments of 2007's Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?, bandleader Kevin Barnes introduced his alter ego, an effeminate singer by ...
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
For Our Elegant Caste
Of Montreal
Alternative & Indie - Released by Polyvinyl Records on Jun 22, 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Sunlandic Twins (Of Montreal)
Of Montreal
Indie Pop - Released by Polyvinyl Records on Apr 12, 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Satanic Panic in the Attic
Of Montreal
Alternative & Indie - Released by Polyvinyl Records on Apr 6, 2004
From the opening synth handclaps and dual lead guitar harmonies of "Disconnect the Dots," the first song on Satanic Panic in the Attic, you know you a ...
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
White Is Relic/Irrealis Mood
Of Montreal
Alternative & Indie - Released by Polyvinyl Records on Mar 9, 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
lousy with sylvianbriar
Of Montreal
Alternative & Indie - Released by Polyvinyl Records on Oct 8, 2013
Though Kevin Barnes had always used Of Montreal to build a strange, often beautiful world of complex personal thoughts and visions, their albums grew ...
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Snare Lustrous Doomings (Live)
Of Montreal
Alternative & Indie - Released by Polyvinyl Records on Apr 17, 2015
Snare Lustrous Doomings is a 19-track, 90-minute, career-spanning live album from uncommonly dynamic indie stalwarts Of Montreal. Recorded and mixed b ...
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Paralytic Stalks (Of Montreal)
Of Montreal
Indie Pop - Released by Polyvinyl Records on Feb 6, 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Coquelicot Asleep In The Poppies: A Variety of Whimsical Verse
Of Montreal
Alternative & Indie - Released by Polyvinyl Records on Apr 23, 2001
Of Montreal's major voice Kevin Barnes has unparalleled talent to write lyrics that double as relatable adult situations and children's fable. This tr ...
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo