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.
The Events Leading up to the Collapse of Detective Dulllight
of Montreal Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
It proved to be the most important finding in the case
And where as detectives slocks and slovits
Slobbered over smutty photographs
Dulllight had a better lead to follow.
He followed the ringing to the telephone where a voice asked
"excuse me aren't you so and so?"
"oh so and so since you left I have been eating only sweets cause they remind me of you."
He felt this surely was a clue.
So he climbed into the tub wearing his underwear and overcoat,
Jumped aboard the model boat and followed the water down the drain.
In his brain there are file cabinets
And secretaries filing their nails downstairs
(but I don't want to talk about that room downstairs).
At this moment detective slocks and slovets
Realize that since they had reported on the crime scene
This morning each of them has aged over fifty years.
Two butterflies land on their shoulders and harmonize softly in their ears
"where did all the time go?"
"did you think that you'd stay young forever?"
"but at least you're still together"
The two detectives held hands in the moonlight.
The butterflies flew away which prompted slovit's to say,"l miss them already".
Slocks removed a fountain pen from his breast pocket,
Drove it deep into slovit's throat and began screeching
"death to the parchment whale, the robot I am lasaile".
While in prison, slocks wrote one of the most revered exercises in free verse titled
"the cause of gauze". "oh the cause of gauze,
The manuels have fondled many memories from my lap though
Each memory has its own lap and swimmers swim laps.
Even swimmers have laps however and while in that
Condition many require a delicate gauze.
I desire only this in my decrepitude,
That I will have one more opportunity
To serve as a gauze to my fellow man
And that in that state of gauze can somehow disturb
The world less often with my prickly fingers."
When detective dulllight returning from the catacombs
First heard the news of the slocks and slovets
Stabbing and subsequent poetry enterprise
He immediately fell to the floor and began plucking peaches from his cheeks.
This eventually became a tiresome activity
So he evaporated into the cream a float a child's bedtime coco.
The lyrics of "The Events Leading up to the Collapse of Detective Dulllight" tell a surreal story of a crime investigation that ultimately leads to the collapse of one of the detectives. Interestingly, Detective Dulllight, who has a much more focused and unorthodox approach to the case, turns out to be the most successful by discovering jello in the fingerprints, which is crucial in solving the crime. As he follows a strange lead and climbs into a tub wearing only his underwear and overcoat, he hallucinates about secretaries filing their nails in his brain as if he were in a mental filing system. Meanwhile, the other detectives, Slocks and Slovits, obsess about smutty photographs while aging rapidly after reporting the crime scene in the morning.
As the story progresses, Slocks ends up killing Slovits and writing a poem while in prison that has become legendary in free verse. Dulllight, upon hearing the news, plucks peaches from his cheeks and eventually evaporates into a child's bedtime coco. The lyrics seem to be a critique of traditional detective work and the establishment as a whole, suggesting that there are better ways to approach problems that go beyond the norm. The surreal imagery and nonlinear plot reinforce this notion.
Line by Line Meaning
There was jello in the fingerprints detective dulllight discovered.
Detective Dulllight found an important clue in the fingerprints which contained jello.
It proved to be the most important finding in the case
This finding became the most crucial evidence in the case.
And where as detectives slocks and slovits
Slocks and Slovits, who were the other detectives, were different from Dulllight.
Slobbered over smutty photographs
They were distracted by pornographic pictures.
Dulllight had a better lead to follow.
But Dulllight had a clear sense of direction and followed the best lead.
He followed the ringing to the telephone where a voice asked
Dulllight followed the sound of a telephone and a voice inquired about someone's identity.
"excuse me aren't you so and so?"
The voice asked if the person's name was a particular one.
"oh so and so since you left I have been eating only sweets cause they remind me of you."
The voice on the phone expressed the sweet memory of a person who left.
He felt this surely was a clue.
Dulllight thought this was a significant piece of information.
So he climbed into the tub wearing his underwear and overcoat,
Dulllight, who wore underwear and an overcoat, climbed into the bath.
Jumped aboard the model boat and followed the water down the drain.
He got on a toy boat and followed the water into the drainpipe.
In his brain there are file cabinets
Dulllight's brain is like an office with many file cabinets.
And secretaries filing their nails downstairs
There are secretaries filing their nails on the lower floor of his brain.
(but I don't want to talk about that room downstairs).
However, he doesn't want to discuss that room.
At this moment detective slocks and slovets
Slocks and Slovits were doing something at that time.
Realize that since they had reported on the crime scene
They suddenly recognized that their involvement in the case had changed something about them.
This morning each of them has aged over fifty years.
They felt like they had aged for fifty years since morning.
Two butterflies land on their shoulders and harmonize softly in their ears
Two butterflies land on their shoulders and they sing a gentle melody to them.
"where did all the time go?"
They ask themselves where all the time has gone.
"did you think that you'd stay young forever?"
They wondered if they could stay young forever.
"but at least you're still together"
They were happy that they were still together.
The two detectives held hands in the moonlight.
The two detectives held hands under the moonlight.
The butterflies flew away which prompted slovit's to say,"l miss them already".
The butterflies flew away and Slovit already missed them.
Slocks removed a fountain pen from his breast pocket,
Slocks took out a fountain pen from his shirt pocket,
Drove it deep into slovit's throat and began screeching
He plunged the pen deep into Slovit's throat and started shouting.
"death to the parchment whale, the robot I am lasaile".
He screamed, "death to the paper whale, the robot I am lasaile".
While in prison, slocks wrote one of the most revered exercises in free verse titled
Slocks was imprisoned and wrote a famous free verse called
"the cause of gauze".
"The cause of gauze".
"oh the cause of gauze,
He pondered over the reason for using gauze
The manuels have fondled many memories from my lap though
He remembered how others had touched his memories
Each memory has its own lap and swimmers swim laps.
He realized that memories can belong to different perspectives and people swim in pools.
Even swimmers have laps however and while in that
However, even swimmers have limitations, and while in that situation,
Condition many require a delicate gauze.
They may need a gentle gauze to treat their wounds.
I desire only this in my decrepitude,
He wanted only this in his frailty.
That I will have one more opportunity
He hoped for one more chance
To serve as a gauze to my fellow man
To help others, like gauze does
And that in that state of gauze can somehow disturb
He wished that by being this kind of help, he may affect others in some way.
The world less often with my prickly fingers."
He wished that he could cause less trouble in the world by doing this.
When detective dulllight returning from the catacombs
When Dulllight returned from the underground burials,
First heard the news of the slocks and slovets
He first heard about what happened to Slocks and Slovits.
Stabbing and subsequent poetry enterprise
Their stabbing and the poetry they wrote afterwards.
He immediately fell to the floor and began plucking peaches from his cheeks.
Dulllight was so shocked that he fell and started squeezing his cheeks.
This eventually became a tiresome activity
Doing so eventually became tiring.
So he evaporated into the cream a float a child's bedtime coco.
So he disappeared into the milk on top of a child's cocoa as if he was never there.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: KEVIN BARNES
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind