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.
Chrissie Kiss the Corpse
of Montreal Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
It was clear she was dead yeah we all could agree
And that death had arrived quite unexpectedly
Cause the poor wretch died with a book on her knee
Chrissy kiss the corpse
Chrissy kiss the corpse
Nick put a burning match between her toes
I put a cockroach in her pantyhose
Chrissy put on some lipstick
And struck a dramatic pose
Chrissy kiss the corpse
Chrissy kiss the corpse
Chrissy's such a pretty lass
As benign as broken glass
No one in her family knows
The vile hobby that she chose
Some cops came by so we hid behind a tree
I peeked out and they noticed me
And said fondling the dead is a felony
But you got nothing to fear
'cause we only came to see
Chrissy kiss the corpse
To see Chrissy kiss the corpse
Chrissy's such a pretty thing
Gentle as a scorpion sting
No one ever would suspect
That her mind's completely wrecked
The song "Chrissie Kiss the Corpse" by of Montreal is a dark and eerie track that explores the theme of death and morbid fascination with corpses. It tells the story of a group of young individuals who come across an old lady's corpse sitting on a bench. The cause of her death is unknown, but it is clear that it was unexpected. The group begins to engage in sickening activities with her body, such as drawing a mustache under her nose, putting a burning match between her toes, and even sticking a cockroach in her pantyhose.
The chorus of the song, "Chrissy kiss the corpse," reveals the focal point of the track. Chrissy, one of the individuals in the group, puts on lipstick, strikes a dramatic pose, and proceeds to kiss the corpse. The song reveals that Chrissy has a "vile hobby" that nobody in her family knows about, suggesting that she has an unhealthy fascination with death and the dead. The song also includes a reference to the felony of "fondling the dead," which emphasizes the disturbing nature of the situation even further.
Overall, the song reflects the darker side of human nature and the disturbing fascination some people have with death and corpses. It presents an unsettling image of a society that is so desensitized to death that they engage in activities that are both illegal and immoral.
Line by Line Meaning
On a bus stop bench sat an ancient lady
There was an old lady sitting on a bench at the bus stop
It was clear she was dead yeah we all could agree
Everyone could see that the lady was dead
And that death had arrived quite unexpectedly
Her death seemed to have happened suddenly and unexpectedly
Cause the poor wretch died with a book on her knee
The lady died with a book on her knee, making it seem like she was reading right before she died
Chrissy kiss the corpse
The group is urging Chrissy to kiss the dead lady
David drew a mustache under her nose
David drew a mustache on the face of the dead lady
Nick put a burning match between her toes
Nick put a burning match between the toes of the dead lady
I put a cockroach in her pantyhose
The artist put a cockroach in the pantyhose of the dead lady
Chrissy put on some lipstick
Chrissy applied some lipstick to herself
And struck a dramatic pose
Chrissy posed dramatically
Chrissy's such a pretty lass
The group is commenting on Chrissy's beauty
As benign as broken glass
Despite being pretty, Chrissy is still dangerous or harmful
No one in her family knows
Chrissy's family is unaware of her actions
The vile hobby that she chose
Chrissy's hobby of kissing the dead lady is considered disgusting or immoral
Some cops came by so we hid behind a tree
The group saw some police officers and hid behind a tree to avoid being caught
I peeked out and they noticed me
The artist peeked out and was noticed by the police officers
And said fondling the dead is a felony
The police officers warned them that touching a dead body is a crime
But you got nothing to fear
The police officers assure them that they won't get into trouble
'cause we only came to see
The police officers only came to see Chrissy kiss the corpse
Chrissy's such a pretty thing
The group is again commenting on Chrissy's beauty
Gentle as a scorpion sting
Despite seeming gentle, Chrissy is still dangerous or harmful like a scorpion's sting
No one ever would suspect
No one would suspect that Chrissy has a dark secret
That her mind's completely wrecked
The group believes that Chrissy has mental issues
Lyrics © OBO APRA/AMCOS
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