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.
Cast in the Haze
of Montreal Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Oh I hop off the train singing your name
I knock on your door I don't know what to say
When you answer I just smile and say "hey"
I'm happy today I'm up on a cloud
And caught in the fray
Oh I'm pacing the floor in the scarf that I wore
On the day that we met by the old statuette
We both thought it was lewd
Its a gas to be cast in the haze
And I've been there four days
Yes I've been there four days
I wanted to play the fabulous game you taught me
Yesterday but it's impossible to play when you're away
I take all of my books and I toss them aside
I don't want to read them now
Proust pales to you somehow
Its a gas to be cast in the haze
And I've been there four days
Yes I've been there four days
I'm so turned on that nothing can bum my trip
Its a gas to be cast in the haze
And I've been there four days
Yes I've been there four days
The song "Cast in the Haze" by of Montreal is a sweet love letter about the feeling of being in love and its overwhelming emotions. The lyrics are a tribute to the happiness and fear that come along with being in love. The song starts with the singer stating that they are happy because they are in love, but at the same time, they are afraid, which is a common emotion that people feel when they are in love.
The singer has arrived at the door of their lover, and they knock, unsure of what to say. However, when their partner answers, they are ecstatic and just say, "hey" with a beaming smile. The singer mentions the scarf they wore on the day they first met, which made it all the more special. They describe their love as being cast in the haze, and they have been there for four days, lost in the euphoria of their newfound romance.
The last part of the song is about the singer feeling so turned on by their lover that nothing can bring them down. They are entirely caught up in the haze of love, and even the books they loved so much before can't measure up to their newfound feelings. Overall, the song is a beautiful ode to the feeling of being carefree and in love, devoid of worries and completely lost in the moment.
Line by Line Meaning
I'm happy today because I'm in love and feeling afraid
I'm experiencing mixed emotions of happiness and fear due to being in love.
Oh I hop off the train singing your name
I'm so in love that I can't stop thinking about my partner's name and singing it out loud.
I knock on your door I don't know what to say
I'm nervous and unsure of what to say when I see you.
When you answer I just smile and say 'hey'
I'm trying to be casual and friendly when I see you, so I just say hi with a smile.
I'm happy today I'm up on a cloud
I feel ecstatic and joyful today.
And caught in the fray
But I'm also caught up in intense emotions and feelings.
Oh I'm pacing the floor in the scarf that I wore
I'm overwhelmed and nervous about our relationship, which is evident in my pacing.
On the day that we met by the old statuette
I remember the day we met near an old statue.
Of an infant in the nude
The statue was of a naked infant.
We both thought it was lewd
We both found the statue to be inappropriate or indecent.
Its a gas to be cast in the haze
Being caught up in love and intense emotions is thrilling and exciting.
And I've been there four days
I've been feeling this way for four days now.
Yes I've been there four days
Repeating that I've been feeling this way for four days.
I wanted to play the fabulous game you taught me
I wanted to do something special or enjoyable with you.
Yesterday but it's impossible to play when you're away
But I couldn't do it because you weren't there with me.
I take all of my books and I toss them aside
I'm so consumed by my emotions that I don't care about anything else, including my books.
I don't want to read them now
I have no interest or motivation to read anything right now.
Proust pales to you somehow
Even great literature (like Proust) seems dull or insignificant compared to the intensity of my feelings for you.
I'm so turned on that nothing can bum my trip
I'm so excited and aroused that nothing can bring me down from my emotional high.
Its a gas to be cast in the haze
Repeating that being caught up in love and intense emotions is thrilling and exciting.
And I've been there four days
Repeating that I've been feeling this way for four days now.
Yes I've been there four days
Repeating that I've been feeling this way for four days.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: KEVIN BARNES
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind