"Come on mood shift, shift back to good again"

It seems unfortunate that today would be the day to recognize the deceptive silliness and truer scariness of one's personal demons displayed on Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? and the 2007 "clothing-optional" iteration of Of Montreal. You see today was the first day of my new job and I am laying here in an exhaustive haze that can barely put together sentences let alone touch off the deserved depth to explain just how depressing, alienating and intoxicating this record is. As a loving fan of the band and indiepop at large, I handled radio promotion for several of Of Montreal's albums and thus listening to a new album, my expectations should have been something not entirely incongruous. However, it appeared initially that the group had in fact transformed or grew up overnight, from the affable stars of the elementary school play to the playful college freshman who partakes in nude performance art. It made sense to think that Of Montreal really needed to do something different to remain relevant because cute wasn't cutting it with the continuing shift away from jovial pop. And while Kevin prancing around in a cape and make-up with a glam-ish sheen is amusing and quite easy to write about, it's the music that appeared to make a significant change or so I though. The more the year has pressed on and I've listened to the album, it came into that expected familiar focus. Whereas the group previously penned and performed earnest love songs through the lens of a quirky fantasy world, this was the lens of that whimsical place now set on some real life lows. And when you remove the pomp and performance, there's some real soul-biting moments reflected in the songwriting.

That said it could be argued that I have paid a great disservice by offering up one of the poppier songs on the record, but in all honesty I found the admission of drugs and desperation in such a catchy format so disturbing I never thought twice about posting anything else.

Of Montreal - download Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse

visit the band
buy the album