of Montreal
Athens, Georgia, USA, of Montreal... no, this is not a passionate traveller’s tweet; it’s the home address of the American rock band of Montreal.
09. March 2015
The name of the band recalls a failed relationship of the band leader Kevin Barnes with a woman from Montreal (of Montreal). Their genre classification is as varied as their song arrangements ranging from variety music in The Beatles style from the late 60s through psychedelic pop, electronic, funk, glam rock, afrobeat to indie. Even greater diversity decorates the stage costumery of of Montreal (designed by Barnes’s brother). This intangibility of the band was aptly named by the magazine Pitchfork as "the paradox of of Montreal" - the more they composed, the less you know them.
Since 1996, the band has already recorded 13 studio albums. The latest “Aureate gloom” (gold plated melancholy) has something to do with the current album Vulnicura by Björk. In addition to being released this year (4th of March 2015), it is also an autotherapy after the collapse of a long-term relationship. While most contemporary artists repeat the universally graspable vague phrases, Barnes takes the opposite way. His lyrics are so personal, that they feel like taken out of a diary that should be always locked up. Besides personal testimonies, their latest album contains perhaps the strongest political song of Montreal yet called Bassem Sabry (named after the assassinated Egyptian journalist).
However, in case of of Montreal, you definitely should not imagine melancholy as gloomy atmosphere, or meditation music to make you fall asleep. Internally, we have named the band the American “Puding pani Elvisovej”. Of Montreal is at home on stages and the vibrations of their songs are best spread through the flowers in the hair of people at festivals. Play "Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games" or “Gronlandic Edit” and start to count down the days before this summer.