“Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?” just may be Of Montreal’s best work to date, but it’s also by far their most demanding.
The band’s main songwriter, Kevin Barnes, has fallen into a few rough patches since we last heard from the band with 2005’s “The Sunlandic Twins.” Barnes became separated from his wife and daughter, and faced feelings of alienation and depression, which fuel the dark lyrics and themes on “Hissing Fauna.”
For the first time in Of Montreal’s career, the lyrics on the album are completely confessional and about Barnes’ personal life.
The album is in essence a “breakup” album, but one would need to really concentrate on Barnes’ “out there” and sometimes cryptic lyrics to notice. The music is still at its core Of Montreal. But “Hissing Fauna” is filled with layers and layers of new experiments that will break down your ear drums and overflow your head from the second album opener “Suffer for Fashion” begins.
The first six tracks of the album are all individually solid and upbeat, but what’s so unreal about them is how well they flow from one into the other. A listener will find themselves double-checking their play list to see what they’re listening to, or if this all has been one epic song.
Even with the experimentation and dark lyrics, the songs are able to retain the ultra-melodic sound that hooked people on Of Montreal in the first place. “Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse” lyrically revolves around drug abuse, but nobody would ever know it if they weren’t following the vocal.
You won’t be able to control tapping your foot and moving to the music despite lyrics like: “Chemicals, don’t mess me up this time / Know you bait me way more than you should / And it’s just like you to hurt me when I’m feeling good.”
The album gets split in half literally and musically with track seven, the twelve minute long “The Past is a Grotesque Animal.” With its ridiculously long length and lyrical awkwardness, the song disrupts the steady flow of the first six songs. The pounding drums and lead guitar riff drive the song underneath lyrics about a separation, making this song either the most intriguing of the songwriting experimentation or the biggest dud.
The second half of the album is full of great songs, but does not really even out after the disruption of “The Past.” With the flow shattered, it’s not as easy for the second half to meet the power of the first half.
“Hissing Fauna” requires more than just a listen, it requires concentration and patience if you want to drink in everything the album has to offer.
“Hissing Fauna” lives up to its hype and is an album you’ll be hearing about for a while. It’s an album that won’t be ignored and without a doubt has secured itself a spot on the “Best of 2007” list of music publications everywhere.
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