They were among the second wave of groups to emerge from The Elephant 6 Recording Company and the group has a style that is typical of many Elephant 6 bands due to their interest in combining musical experimentation with the basic tenets of pop i.e. catchy melodies and sing-along choruses. The band’s style has been influenced by conventional indie pop, psychedelic music, vaudeville and music hall on their earlier releases and by afrobeat, funk, krautrock and reggae on their recent releases.
The band’s style has been known to change between albums. At first, the band embraced a more simple, quirky, lo-fi indie pop sound, which occasionally bordered on twee pop. The band was created by Kevin Barnes and named after a failed romance with a woman from Montreal, though the story changes in various interviews. Barnes was the only member of the “group” prior to his relocation to Athens, Georgia. There, he met Derek Almstead, later of Circulatory System, M Coast, Elf Power etc., and Bryan Poole, who also performs as The Late B.P. Helium.
Together, they recorded their first album, Cherry Peel, as well as The Bird Who Continues to Eat the Rabbit’s Flower and The Bedside Drama: A Petite Tragedy.
A number of singles and a re-release of The Bird Who Continues to Eat the Rabbit’s Flower occurred before the release of the band’s third album, The Gay Parade in 1999. With contributions from several members of the Elephant Six collective at the time, it also featured artwork from Kevin’s brother David Barnes, who would continue to do artwork for future albums.
This album marked that the band had moved to a fuller sound, which is also found on its follow-up, Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies: A Variety of Whimsical Verse. These two albums contain more narrative lyrics, as opposed to the rather personal lyrical matter of those preceding it, and often imitating the style of old 1950s radio plays.
After production on The Gay Parade began in 1998, Poole left the band to focus on his duties with Elf Power, another Elephant Six band from Athens. Barnes also recruited Jamey Huggins and Dottie Alexander, who had been performing together as Lightning Bug vs. Firefly, to play various instruments. Derek moved from drums to bass. The band was joined soon after by Marshmallow Coast’s Andy Gonzales.
Following the release of The Gay Parade, the band signed with Kindercore Records, who would release a number of singles and compilations. It wasn’t until 2001 that Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies: A Variety of Whimsical Verse would be released as a new album with original material. The album again featured contributions from across the Elephant 6 spectrum.
In 2002, Aldhils Arboretum was released, with a slightly different sound than its predecessors, as the songs were more directly structured. This album marks the beginning of the change in of Montreal’s sound, with more danceable rhythms than ever before, especially on the album’s closer, “Death Dance Of The Omipapas and Sons For You”. A successful tour ensued, including of Montreal’s first trip to the UK, along with a tour-only EP.
Kindercore Records would fold shortly after the release of Arboretum, and of Montreal’s status was also threatened. Kevin got married, and Andy and Derek left the band. Barnes, being uncomfortable with the unrest, as well as some divisions within the band, took to writing and performing their 2004 album Satanic Panic in the Attic mostly by himself. Released by Polyvinyl Records, it became one of their more successful efforts to that point. The 2004 tour saw The Late B.P. Helium (Bryan Poole) rejoin the band, with some bass played by Kevin’s partner Nina Barnes. The album marked a shift to something more electronic with traditional structures, to be further advanced in later albums and new songs. In their most recent releases and concerts, the band has fully embraced a sort of techno-pop glam image, with little of their previous incarnations surfacing. This style is featured in singles such as Disconnect the Dots. The style would continue to evolve into 2005’s The Sunlandic Twins, which was even more a Barnes solo effort. Recorded in Athens, with the exception of one track recorded in Norway, it was a much more pronounced electronic album. The album became a success, mostly due to the singles “So Begins Our Alabee” and the MTV clip for “Wraith Pinned to the Mist (and Other Games)”.
The band released several collections of singles in early 2006. Barnes recorded most of the band’s 2007 release, Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?, by himself while living in Norway and Athens, Georgia. The switch to autobiographical themes of suicide, depression and isolation of the album was a direct product of his troubled personal life during that period.
of Montreal released Skeletal Lamping on October 21, 2008 followed by False Priest on September 14, 2010, Paralytic Stalks on February 7, 2012, and Lousy with Sylvianbriar on October 8, 2013. Aureate Gloom is scheduled for release by Polyvinyl Records on March 3, 2015.
Lyrically, their style has changed dramatically throughout the years. In the beginning, many songs were narratives of personal or humorous situations, such as “Tim, I Wish You Were Born A Girl”, from Cherry Peel. This style, however, changed with The Gay Parade, where many songs involve small narratives surrounding invented characters (in songs such as “Jacques Lamure”, “The Autobiographical Grandpa”, “Mimi Merlot” and “Rose Robert”). Others act as extracts from fictional conversations (“Advice From a Divorced Gentleman to His Bachelor Friend Considering Marriage” and “Good Morning Mr. Edminton” as examples). With Aldhils Arboretum came a slight return to the previous writing style, except following more poppy, classical lyrical structures (such as the use of choruses, which are generally absent in the Gay Parade/Coquelicot years). This style continued throughout Satanic Panic and The Sunlandic Twins to some extent. On the album Hissing Fauna: Are You The Destroyer? the lyrics are much more personal than previously used, with songs detailing emotions within the speaker.
Another unique quality of the band is the fusion of ostensibly gloomy lyrics with bouncy, upbeat melodies and hooks. On Aldhils Arboretum, for example, the lyrics for tracks like “Doing Nothing” and “Old People in the Cemetery” focus on apathy, loneliness or death while being contrasted with cheerful instrumentation. Another example of this tendency is shown in their choice of covers; for example, Yoko Ono’s “I Felt Like Smashing my Head Through a Clear Glass Window” from The Bird Who Continues to Eat the Rabbit’s Flower.
True to the style of most Elephant 6 recording artists, of Montreal’s members have been in a variety of side projects and other bands:
The band itself has performed as the backing band for Marshmallow Coast on record and on tour.
My First Keyboard was the pseudonym used by Dottie Alexander to release the song “The You I Created” on the Kindercore singles club. of Montreal acted as her backing band.
Amphibian Days
of Montreal Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I received a kiss with a promise that produced deformities of happiness
The laughter there is viscous it leaves a residue down the legs of the chairs
Since you lost the will to hear they get your attention grabbing fistfuls of your hair
These amphibian days they will not heel to you
You can't defy the defining flaw of your generation
She descended a stairway composed of silk and flicked her cigarette
As I sweat through my black hex I saw you two climax in spasms through a frosted window
You both came in electronics and anthemic bursts of unsanitary flames
These amphibian days they will not heel to you
You can't defy the defining flaw of your generation
If this is Tartarus, which of us is Echidna which one Arakiel?
This bastard conveyance of extinct emotions that we know only in our cells
I labor to tempt you out of your cage and into my patrol
Until this vessel lands I have decided to ignore all impulse control
These amphibian days they will not heel to you
You can't defy the defining flaw of your generation
The lyrics in Amphibian Days by Of Montreal explore themes of power dynamics, animalistic behavior, and societal pressure within a generational context. The first verse describes the singer in a pen with mastiffs bred to fight rats, drawing a parallel between the dogs' violent tendencies and the behavior of society. The "kiss with a promise" that "produced deformities of happiness" suggests the harmful effects of chasing societal expectations and norms blindly. The laughter in this setting is described as "viscous" and "leaves a residue down the legs of the chairs," further highlighting the toxicity that comes with conforming to societal pressures. The line "Since you lost the will to hear they get your attention grabbing fistfuls of your hair" suggests that those who do not fit in with societal norms are often treated violently, emphasizing the power imbalance.
The chorus of the song repeats the line "These amphibian days they will not heel to you, you can't defy the defining flaw of your generation," pointing out the struggle for individuals to go against societal pressures that have been ingrained in them since birth. The following verse describes a scene of sexual tension between two individuals witnessed by the singer, further emphasizing animalistic behavior and the struggle to resist impulses. The final verse questions which character in mythology represents the singer and the listener while exploring the idea that emotions and behavioral patterns can become extinct over time.
Line by Line Meaning
In the pen with the mastiffs bred to fight rats in the bowels of the arena
I was in a place with dogs that were raised to fight rats in the underground of a stadium
I received a kiss with a promise that produced deformities of happiness
I was given a kiss that promised an overwhelming happiness that ended up making me feel deformed
The laughter there is viscous it leaves a residue down the legs of the chairs
The laughter was thick and sticky, leaving a trace on the furniture
Since you lost the will to hear they get your attention grabbing fistfuls of your hair
Since you don't want to listen anymore, they resort to violence to get your attention
These amphibian days they will not heel to you
These times of change won't conform to your expectations
You can't defy the defining flaw of your generation
It's impossible to escape the flaw that characterizes your generation
The heavens vomited the dawn upon us as we learned how to occupy photographs
We witnessed the sunrise as we learned how to capture moments in pictures
She descended a stairway composed of silk and flicked her cigarette
A woman in fine clothing came down a staircase and lightly tossed her cigarette
As I sweat through my black hex I saw you two climax in spasms through a frosted window
I was sweating and looking through a frosted window as I saw you both reach orgasm in a convulsive way
You both came in electronics and anthemic bursts of unsanitary flames
Your orgasms had a technological quality and were accompanied by unsanitary bursts of energy
If this is Tartarus, which of us is Echidna which one Arakiel?
If this is hell, which one of us represents Echidna and which one Arakiel?
This bastard conveyance of extinct emotions that we know only in our cells
Our emotions have become extinct, and we only feel them in the depths of ourselves
I labor to tempt you out of your cage and into my patrol
I work hard to encourage you to break free from your confinement and join me
Until this vessel lands I have decided to ignore all impulse control
I've decided to disregard any control over my impulses until this journey is over
Lyrics © BUG MUSIC
Written by: Kevin Barnes
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Natasha Gehlhausen
Thank you so much for posting this!
Kier Sison
this song reminds me of when i got ice cream with my dog. he got hit by a car but it was still a nice day
Prince Satyrn
.......
Jonny Klangvoll
I'm really happy about all songs :o