Of Montreal is no longer just for your weird friend who hangs out at Satellite Ballroom. The indie band's latest album Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? blazes its way proudly into conformity.
This group is historically weird, and anyone who has been to their shows in Charlottesville can attest to that. Men in makeup and drag? Partial nudity on stage? It can be hard to stomach. Plus, they are actually "of" Athens, Georgia.
Fortunately, Hissing Fauna gives listeners some relief from the pain of previous albums. The band's sound has evolved from challengingly obscure to comfortingly witty.
The album begins with two seconds of what sounds like a happy baby about to be given a rattle. And the rattle does indeed arrive, in the jumping beat of "Suffer for Fashion." Despite using elitist words like "emote," "emasculate," and "vicissitudes," the message of the song is universal. Lead singer Kevin Barnes mourns, "We don't want these days to ever end," but soon follows it up with a peppy "We've got to keep it physical!" It's like an anthem for college life.
One of the best songs on this album is "Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse." Although the title is alienating, the first notes are compelling. The sound is closest to a synthesized organ. "I'm in a crisis," Barnes cries, and you believe him. "I need help / come on, mood / shift, shift back to good again!" The genius of this line is that it is sung in successive key changes that mirror the "shifts" in the lyrics. The song then falls into recurring dialogues with "chemicals" -- the demons that threaten to "strangle" Barnes' pen. The song captures the pains of the creative process.
"Gronlandic Edit" is extremely strange at first. Barnes sings, "I am satisfied / hiding in a friend's apartment / only leaving once a day / to buy some groceries," and the soliloquy tiptoes in a staccato. Then a touching melody ensues and it's an anxious grasp at love: "Guess it would be nice / to give my life to a god / but which one do I choose?" The challenge is both spiritual and physical.
A few of the songs on this album are too mournful to be fun, such as "The Past Is a Grotesque Animal." In half-spoken lyrics, Barnes whines, "Things could be different, but they're not." The story is stuck and hopeless: "I'm flunking out / I'm flunking out / I'm just gone." The song then breaks down into very dark statements of destruction and chaos.
The majority of the other tracks are strangely friendly. Of course, the band's sound hasn't changed completely as there are still frequent dissonances and instrumental riffs.
Most importantly, the tunes of Hissing Fauna are catchy and will stay stuck in your head whether you like them or not. On top of that, Of Montreal has been consistently strong in shaping nontraditional lyrics. The song "She's a Rejecter" offers a very amusing sentiment. "There's the girl who left me bitter," Barnes jabs, "Want to pay some other girl to just walk up to her and hit her / but I can't." You just might laugh.
Don't be surprised if Of Montreal's songs begin to surface in your life. Hissing Fauna currently is rising through the Top 50 iTunes downloads and the band has already had repeat appearances on the soundtrack of The O.C. It probably won't be long until car commercials. Thankfully for Of Montreal, selling out just means more listeners will buy in.
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