Posts
A rare example of a 10 minute song that pays off like gangbusters. This guy knows how to build a song, and once you've heard the final release, the way he teases you with it the first time, ducking back into the verse after we initially hear the words "I never ever wanted to write this song" is agonizingly delicious.
Though not on the CD, this is the final track on the vinyl version of 'Hissing Fauna...', and I can't imagine the album without those extra songs on side four of the LP. I've made my own iPod version of the album including the whole 'Icons, Abstract Thee!' EP as the final tracks of the album and it works for me very well.
Kevin Barnes' lyrics on this album, so paranoid and embarrassingly personal, really speak to me. As melodramatic as they are, I love the crap out of them. This guy really got under my skin on Hissing Fauna, but sadly, Skeletal Lamping was a huge disappointment. Meh.
6 comments:
I second pretty much this entire post. I recently listened to Hissing Fauna for the first time in a while and it totally stands up still. I'm cautiously optimistic about the next one, but I agree, Skeletal Lamping didn't quite work. Had some good ideas, but I just don't really even find it that enjoyable to listen to.
I, too, really dig Hissing Fauna (a total grower for me), but never felt as positive about the rest of the Of Montreal catalogue. I remember my giant Elephant 6 kick way back around freshman year of college. I became immersed in Neutral Milk Hotel, Olivia Tremor Control, and even the Apples in Stereo to some degree (plus Beulah, although I always found them to be an Elephant 6 outlier)-- but I couldn't fully appreciate Of Montreal's The Gay Parade (which I actually think I ordered from Columbia House of all places).
Looking back, it makes sense. For one thing, I had zero appreciation for peak-era Beach Boys at the time (the closest I came was High Llamas), and I really required a strong "rock" element in all the music I liked. That has since changed and I actually think I'd really like The Gay Parade at this point, but it wasn't working for me back then. (It also didn't help that it was followed by Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies: A Variety of Whimsical Verse, which is either the best album Syd Barrett never made or utterly smug and cloying-- back in college, I decided on the latter.)
As far as Hissing Fauna goes, it really eclipses any prior feelings I'd had about an Of Montreal record. I don't think I'll ever fully like the electronic/dance elements that are so integral to the record, but I'm way more open-minded than I was eleven years ago, plus I just think that the songs are the best Of Montreal has ever cobbled together. The vocal melodies and arrangements are also the best I've ever heard from them. The Gay Parade, for all its relative risk-taking, never impressed me on a purely musical level the way that Hissing Fauna does. And while Coquelicot had some cool vocal stuff going on (don't know about after that, because I abandoned them at that point), it was too precious for me to take seriously.
I've only heard Skeletal Lamping once, so I really feel unqualified to comment, but my initial reaction was that it reverted back to the style-over-substance issue that bugged me about earlier Of Montreal (and so much old E6 material for that matter). Song-wise, it was a real drop-off. Its lack of hooks reminded me of the old Of Montreal that I couldn't quite get into, but the aesthetic was definitely mucn more Hissing Fauna-era. But I've never granted much stock to my opinion because I haven't spent any time at all with that record.
Obviously no one associates Of Montreal with Elephant 6 anymore. They're essentially the only band from that collective that's still both a) in existence and b) relevant. I guess it helps when the "band" consists of a single constant member. But for me, there are three Of Montreals. There's the Elephant 6-era version, which I'll always compare unfavorably to Olivia Tremor Control and Neutral Milk Hotel. There's Hissing Fauna as its own entity, which is obviously awesome. And then there's post-Hissing Fauna, which, as I said has the new aesthetic, but goes back to The Gay Parade's lack of commitment to certain songs.
And that's this guy's opinion.
The one era you're leaving out -- and it's crucial -- is the pre-Hissing Fauna era (specifically Satanic Panic in the Attic, and Sunlandic Twins, both of which are excellent, especially the former). I believe that the band itself divides itself into roughly these eras. The first song on Sunlandic Twins is called "Requiem for O.M.M.2," which stands for "Of Montreal Mark 2," which was the second version of the band. So as of that album (and really as of Satanic Panic, which is the first one with the more electronic textures), we've been in the third version of the band. That said, Hissing Fauna is clearly a key work for them-- the last two albums have been named for lyrics from that album (both "Skeletal Lamping" and "False Priest" appear at the end of "Faberge Falls for Shuggie).
Also, I think your assessment is spot on about Skeletal Lamping-- it's the Hissing Fauna aesthetic, with the anything goes structures of the Elephant 6 era stuff. Anyway, I'm hoping that their upcoming album reigns things in again. The fact that Jon Brion helped produce it is certainly very promising.
One thing I always admire about Jon Brion-produced albums is that he encourages his artists to try anything and everything, but somehow the record always seems focused toward a particular goal/sound/theme. Kind of the best of both worlds.
A good example is Brad Mehldau's Largo album, wherein Mehldau-- who's basically this generation's Bill Evans-- is going way far out into electronics and rock beats but still manages to make a Brad Mehldau record.
I think Jon Brion may be the ideal producer for Kevin Barnes and his collective. Let's hope so.
Post a Comment