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 Secret Ocean
of Montreal Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Spills out into the room
And it made me think
Of how you float away
To another distant room
Embracing the unknown
And I wonder what
You're doing there today
Because I'm always thinking of you
Your invisible rays slice me in two
You crush me every day
You made me change my shape
I could be anything you want me to
Drifting along
Your golden doorway
You tried to duck your head
But the ceiling sinks along
And lifts you up
Into a place where you
Can be anything you want to
An old dead branch
A big red ant
A singing clown
It might be impossible
To reach into the sky
And send you out a greeting
On the telepathic line
Another selfish scheme
For entering your dream
Across the secret ocean
In the broad unending time
I'm always thinking of you
Your invisible rays slice me in two
You crush me every day
You made me change my shape
I could be anything you want me to
I could be anything you want me to
I could be anything you want me to
"The Secret Ocean" by of Montreal is a song that touches on themes of love, longing, and the desire to be connected with someone who is physically distant. The lyrics speak of this distant person and how the singer is constantly thinking about them, even though they are in a "distant room" which is unknown to them. The "Secret Ocean" represents the vast and unknown space between the singer and the person they love, while the "coast" represents the physical world that surrounds them.
The lyrics also speak of the singer's willingness to change their shape in order to be anything the other person wants them to be. This suggests that the singer is willing to do anything to make the other person happy, and that their love for this person is all-consuming. The mention of the "telepathic line" and the "broad unending time" further reinforces the idea that distance is a major theme in the song.
The chorus repeats the line "You crush me every day" to emphasize the power that this distant person has over the singer's emotions. The use of the word "crush" suggests that the singer feels helpless in the face of their love and that they are unable to resist their pull.
Overall, "The Secret Ocean" is a song about the power of love and the desire to be connected to someone who is physically distant. It speaks to the universal experience of longing and shows the depths to which love can reach.
Line by Line Meaning
Secret ocean and its coast
The ocean that is kept secret along a coast
Spills out into the room
It fills the space with its presence
And it made me think
This evokes introspection in me
Of how you float away
About how you often drift away
To another distant room
To a place that's far from here
Embracing the unknown
Taking on something unfamiliar and new
And I wonder what
I am curious to know
You're doing there today
What you're doing in that place right now
Because I'm always thinking of you
You remain on my mind always
Your invisible rays slice me in two
I feel a piercing sensation from the effect of your presence
You crush me every day
Your effect on me is overwhelming on a daily basis
You made me change my shape
You have immensely influenced even my physical appearance
I could be anything you want me to
I am willing to change or be anything to please you
Drifting along
I am aimlessly going with the flow
Your golden doorway
Your entrance to something magnificently precious
You tried to duck your head
You attempted concealing yourself
But the ceiling sinks along
However, the roof also drops and restricts your hiding space
And lifts you up
You are elevated upwards from the constraint
Into a place where you
To somewhere that allows
Can be anything you want to
You can become anything that you desire or aim to be
An old dead branch
A useless, abandoned part of a tree
A big red ant
A common small creature with a conspicuous color
A singing clown
A person whose job is to entertain with comedy and music
It might be impossible
It is conceivable that it cannot be done
To reach into the sky
To extend beyond our physical reach towards the atmosphere
And send you out a greeting
To convey my salutations and best wishes to you
On the telepathic line
Using a channel of communication without any physical connection
Another selfish scheme
An alternative self-centered plan
For entering your dream
For participating in your thoughts while you slumber
Across the secret ocean
Over the hidden sea
In the broad unending time
In a vast, open, and never-ending time frame
I could be anything you want me to
I am willing to change or be anything to please you
I could be anything you want me to
I am willing to change or be anything to please you
I could be anything you want me to
I am willing to change or be anything to please you
Contributed by Ian N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.