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.
Gronlandic Edit
of Montreal Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I am satisfied hiding in our friend's apartment
Only leaving once a day to buy some groceries
Daylight, I'm so absent minded, nighttime meeting new anxieties
So am I erasing myself? Hope I'm not erasing myself
I guess it would be nice to give my heart to a God
All the churches filled with losers, psycho or confused
I just want to hold the divine in mine
And forget, all of the beauty's wasted
Let's fall back to earth and do something pleasant, say it
We fell back to earth like gravity's bitches, bitches
Physics makes us all its bitches
I guess it would be nice to help in your escape
From patterns your parents designed
All the party people dancing for the indie star
But he's the worst faker by far in the set
I forget, all of the beauty's wasted
I guess it would be nice
Show me that things can be nice
I guess it would be nice
Show me that things can be nice
You've got my back in the city
You've got my back 'cause I don't want to panic
You've got my back in the city
You've got my back 'cause I don't want to panic
The song Gronlandic Edit by of Montreal is a reflection on the internal struggles of the singer who is experiencing a sense of detachment from the world around them. The lyrics are confessional and introspective, as the singer laments their lack of engagement with the world, spending most of their time hiding in their friend's apartment and leaving only to buy groceries. The singer is grappling with the idea of self-erasure, questioning if their withdrawal from society means that they are disappearing altogether. The lyrics suggest a certain nihilism, but also an imaginative quality that fuels the singer's thoughts.
The lyrics also explore the concept of faith, as the singer expresses a wish to believe in something greater than themselves, but they are uncertain which God to choose. The singer expresses a sense of frustration with traditional religion which seems to be filled with "losers, psycho or confused", and instead longs to "hold the divine" but doesn't know how to do it. The lyrics are deeply human, touching on the shortcomings of organized religion and the need for spirituality in our lives.
Line by Line Meaning
Nihilists with good imaginations
People who believe in nothing, but have creative minds to imagine anything and everything
I am satisfied hiding in our friend's apartment
I am happy living in isolation, away from the outside world, in the comfort of a friend's apartment
Only leaving once a day to buy some groceries
I go out only once a day, to get some groceries for survival
Daylight, I'm so absent minded, nighttime meeting new anxieties
During the day, I am lost in my thoughts, and at night, I am consumed by new worries and fears
So am I erasing myself? Hope I'm not erasing myself
Am I destroying my own identity? I hope not
I guess it would be nice to give my heart to a God
It would be comforting to have faith in a divine power
But which one, which one do I choose?
Out of so many options available, which God should I choose to have faith in?
All the churches filled with losers, psycho or confused
Most religious institutions are filled with people who are either failures, crazy, or misguided
I just want to hold the divine in mine
I wish to have a personal connection and experience with God
And forget, all of the beauty's wasted
All the beauty in the world is useless if there is no deeper meaning or purpose to life
Let's fall back to earth and do something pleasant, say it
Let's stop getting lost in our thoughts and do something enjoyable in the real world, agree?
We fell back to earth like gravity's bitches, bitches
We came back to reality as if we were forced down by the laws of physics
Physics makes us all its bitches
The rules of science and nature control all of us
I guess it would be nice to help in your escape
It would be a good feeling to assist and support someone in their effort to break free
From patterns your parents designed
From the established and inherited lifestyle and mindset dictated by one's family
All the party people dancing for the indie star
All these people are mindlessly following a popular trend or fad
But he's the worst faker by far in the set
The person they are admiring is actually the most insincere and disingenuous in the group
I forget, all of the beauty's wasted
Again, all the beauty in life is pointless if there is no purpose or meaning behind it
I guess it would be nice
It would be desirable
Show me that things can be nice
Prove to me that life can be good
You've got my back in the city
You support and protect me while we are in the urban environment
You've got my back 'cause I don't want to panic
You are there for me to rely on and prevent me from being overwhelmed by anxiety
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: KEVIN BARNES
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@PolyvinylRecords
of Montreal's new album UR FUN is shipping now ahead of next week's release date !!! 🎁💝https://plyvnyl.co/urfun
@Goddygoddy1
"I guess it would be nice to give my heart to a God
But which one, which one do I choose?"
@HXKUSAI
asd chooo ooo ooooo ooo oooseee
@chada75
"Bob"
@nutopiancitizen
praise bob
@carstarsarstenstesenn
I just want to hold the Divine Bob in mine and FORGEEEEEETTTTTTTT”
@SSathe-dd9lo
#ACCURATE
@midwestcyborg01
"I guess it would be nice to give my heart to a God,"
I already gave my heart to you, Kevin. This music is so amazing.
@ToscheBalu
suff er for fashion
@CaioOleskovicz
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