Has Kevin Barnes traded in his playful story-telling days for a gloomy auto-biography? Welcome to Kevin's year spent in Norway with his wife and daughter, and the near demise of his marriage upon their return to the states. It's unusual for Kevin to write an album so personal, but it works, and it may be his most outstanding effort to date. Instead of vaudevillian short stories, Hissing Fauna Are You The Destroyer? (along with companion EP Icons, Abstract Thee) is like an epic novel. Listen to the lyrics and you'll hear the words of an extremely troubled man sinking into the depths of depression. You have to listen closely though, because those sad songs hide behind upbeat poppy melodies that Of Montreal is known for. Only Kevin Barnes could make being "on the verge of a total breakdown" or wanting to "destroy" yourself sound so fun.
The first half of Hissing Fauna follows Kevin as he battles falling into depression while trying to keep his family together. The first track, "Suffer for Fashion", alludes right away: "if we've got to burn out let's do it together, let's all melt down together". In "Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse" he pleads with the chemicals in his mind to help his mood "switch back to good again". Barnes makes the trips the mind takes under its own chemical imbalance sound a lot like the trips of mind-altering drugs. "Grolandic Edit" finds the family back in Athens, GA, tensions still running high, and "A Sentence of Sorts in Kongsvinger" recounts his time spent in Norway "on the verge of a total breakdown".
The album's turning point comes in the heart-shattering "The Past is a Grotesque Animal". In this twelve minute epic, Kevin candidly describes the breaking point of his marriage, right down to the violence and emotion of a couples quarrel: "I've been dodging lamps and vegetables, throw it all in my face I don't care".
After the breakdown, the album slips into a strange sexual escape from reality, likely a coping mechanism. Kevin's she-male alter-ego Georgie Fruit even makes an appearance in "Labyrinthan Pomp". The standout track from the second half, "Faberge Falls For Shuggie", is filled with sexual innuendos: "be careful how you touch me, my body is an earthquake, ready to receive you". The funky baseline and falsetto vocals are the grooviest Of Montreal has ever been.
Follow-up EP Icons, Abstract Thee continues on the same path, hitting rock-bottom in the closing song "No Conclusion". He appears to be trapped in his own head, but manically detached by talking to himself ("Don't worry Kevin"). It's also dripping with revealing self-deprecating statements: "I'm killing myself / but my friends will never know because I've never been honest with anyone." Wow.
And that's where the tale abruptly ends. Thankfully, Kevin and his wife have since reconciled. We just hope that he retains the creative juices that came with his despair.
Catch Of Montreal live at Pitchfork Music Festival July 15 in Chicago
Monday, June 18, 2007
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