Of Montreal: A Beginner’s Guide
This playlist serves as a sub-60 minute primer on the Elephant 6 collective’s most prolific band
Welcome to another instalment of A Beginner’s Guide, the (hopefully) self-explanatory series in which I take a cult artist with a lengthy and/or complicated discography, and condense their entire career into one humble playlist. This month, it’s the turn of Athens, Georgia’s of Montreal.
Of Montreal was formed by principal songwriter and frontperson Kevin Barnes in 1996, quickly becoming part of the Elephant 6 Record Company collective in Athens, Georgia. The best known Elephant 6 band is Neutral Milk Hotel, whose seminal 1998 record In The Aeroplane Over The Sea is arguably the collective’s standout release. I say arguably, because both The Olivia Tremor Control (Dusk at Cubist Castle) and The Apples in Stereo (Fun Trick Noisemaker) made strong cases of their own.
Perhaps because of their sheer longevity — last year’s Lady on the Cusp was studio album number nineteen — and a penchant for experimentation, of Montreal are often overlooked in such debates. They shouldn’t be.
The purpose of this article is to shine a light on the best songs of the band’s peak years, which based on nothing but my own opinion I’m going to define as being from 1996 to 2010. But in terms of albums? Both Cherry Peel and Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? are top-notch records that deserve a deeper dive. If you like those, try The Gay Parade next.
A final note: these picks are guided by opinion, not by streaming popularity. What a tedious feature that would be.
“Everything Disappears When You Come Around”
(From Cherry Peel, 1997)
The first track on of Montreal’s debut record is an apt introduction to the lo-fi psychedelia that characterised the band’s early career. The influence of the British Invasion bands, a hallmark of the Elephant 6 collective in general, is particularly evident throughout Cherry Peel. The Bandcamp version embedded above is the original recording (and the first I heard); the more fleshed-out Spotify version features additional overdubs, such as added harmonies. Both are great…
“Don’t Ask Me To Explain”
(From Cherry Peel, 1997)
…But “Don’t Ask Me To Explain” is the undisputed highlight of Cherry Peel. What a joyous blast of a bedroom pop!
“Disguises” (The Who cover)
(From The Bird Who Ate the Rabbit’s Flower (1997; Re-released 2006)
As I said above, the British Invasion was a huge Elephant 6 influence. The Beatles, The Kinks, and the Zombies are all obvious sonic touchstones, but The Who’s influence on of Montreal shouldn’t be overlooked either — as this excellent cover demonstrates.
“Happy Yellow Bumblebee” (or Panda Bear)
(From The Bedside Drama: A Petite Tragedy, 1998)
The Bedside Drama isn’t my favourite early of Montreal release. Taken as a whole, it’s a little too twee and saccharine, but in small doses some of its stronger moments are perfectly pleasant. This jolly little ramshackle number is a fine example.
“Advice from a Divorced Gentleman to His Bachelor Friend Considering Marriage”
(From The Gay Parade, 1999)
Oh man, this is a special song for me. I was introduced to of Montreal via a No Ripcord reader’s mixtape in early 2000 — Tack så mycket, Magdalena! — and this was the song that won me over. I still love it. The little theatrical flourishes and general sense of whimsy. It’s perfect.
“Good Morning Mr. Edminton”
(From Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies: A Variety of Whimsical Verse, 2001)
Things started to get a little weirder on 2001’s Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies. If Kevin Barnes’ early compositions featured a hint of darkness, a subtle creepiness even, this was the record where they turned it up a notch. The recording quality improved, too — of Montreal would never really sound lo-fi again. “Good Morning Mr. Edminton” has a delightful ELO vibe, but the record has plenty of other standouts.
“Jennifer Louise”
(From Aldhils Arboretum, 2002)
Billed as a “Singles Collection” at the time, Aldhils Arboretum isn’t the most cohesive of Montreal album. That said, it has a couple of absolute bangers, one of which is “Jennifer Louise”, a wonderful example of early 2000s power pop.
“Disconnect the Dots”
(From Satanic Panic in the Attic, 2004)
Satanic Panic in the Attic introduced more synths and programmed beats to the of Montreal sound, essentially marking the beginning of the band’s second act. I raved about it at the time, giving it a generous 8/10 rating. In hindsight, a guarded 7/10 would have been more appropriate, but “Disconnect the Dots” (alongside “Lysergic Bliss”, which could describe most of Montreal albums) remains a mid-career highlight.
“I Was Never Young”
(From The Sunlandic Twins, 2005)
“Am I tripping, or is that disco?” pondered Alan Shulman in his No Ripcord review. The Sunlandic Twins was a patchy near-miss of a record, but something was clearly brewing within Barnes and his next release would prove to be his masterwork.
“Heimdalsgate Like A Prometheus Curse”
(From Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?, 2007)
Hissing Fauna gets two tracks on this playlist. My feature, my rules. As much as I love the nostalgic lo-fi of Cherry Peel, this is the artistic peak of Kevin Barnes’ career. “Heimdalsgate” is the shimmering pop standout…
“The Past Is A Grotesque Animal”
(From Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?, 2007)
…And “The Past Is A Grotesque Animal” is the disturbing 12 minute epic. Both are essential. It’s hard to believe this emerged from the same songwriter who only nine years earlier was rambling on about happy yellow bumblebees.
“Gallery Piece”
(From Skeletal Lamping, 2008)
After the peak, the decline. Skeletal Lamping wasn’t a bad release by any stretch, but those occasional flashes of self-indulgence started to become a little more prevalent. In isolation, though, how can you not love the urgent funk of “Gallery Piece”?
Janelle Monáe — “Make The Bus” (featuring of Montreal)
(From The ArchAndroid, 2010)
“Enemy Gene” (featuring Janelle Monáe)
(From False Priest, 2010)
It would have been hard to imagine the Kevin Barnes of Cherry Peel working with Janelle Monáe, but in 2010 it made a lot of sense. So much sense, in fact, that it happened twice! First, Barnes wrote and appeared on Monáe’s “Make The Bus”, from The ArchAndroid; then, later in the year, Monáe appeared on this False Priest track.
You can listen to every track discussed here as a Spotify playlist. Please note: the Cherry Peel tracks have overdubs and sound different to the Bandcamp embeds in the feature. As I said, both versions are great.
Let me know what you think about of Montreal in the comments. And while you’re there, why not fire off some suggestions for the next Beginner’s Guide?
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Great primer on a really fun band! Would add “Tim I Wish You Were Born a Girl” as an early career highlight.