#02. of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
When I was younger, I adopted the glam rock of the 70's as my personal pet niche in musical history. Let's ignore what this might imply about anyone's sexuality and focus on just how wonderful it is that Kevin Barnes has submitted his masterpiece to the glam Parthenon.
David Bowie would be proud of Barnes' lyrics: all catty observation and surreal theatricality, a good chunk of the album's lyrics read like journal entries written during a nervous breakdown. Barnes adorns the album's manic, disco and punk flavored songs with his own suicidal prose, and the result is an autobiographical glam rock concept album that none can fuck with.
When I saw of Montreal live in Philly last year, I saw Barnes playing the role of a 70's glam god; switching between kimonos, dresses, stilts, thongs, and his birthday suit in the span of an hour and a half. His exaggerated androgyny has become as present in his stage show as it has in his music.
Perhaps this album is truly the work of a transitive time in Barnes life, and it's exact blend of mad genius and crippling doubt will never be recreated.
Even if that's so...even if this will forever stand as the peak of Barnes' songwriting...we have to remind ourselves that he has an extensive, amazing back catalog, and this album is the work of years of creative output.
Right. Yeah. Perspective.
(download it here [momentarily])
Nathaniel Tyson
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