#6 Of Montreal – Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?

Arguably the only survival story after the Elephant Six co-op went defunct in ‘02 – before being recently revived by label founders Apples In Stereo with their latest effort – Atlanta, Ga.,-based quintet Of Montreal have managed to keep critic’s heads turning over the years, despite what was considered to be a dramatic twist in sound after Kevin Barnes took tighter control of the reigns with ’04’s Satanic Panic in the Attic – honestly, I can’t see much measurable distance between Gay Parade and Sunlandic Twins, but that’s just me – and a near nervous breakdown by Barnes before the recording of their eighth LP Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? Much the same bizarro collage of funk-dance and psych-pop that pushed their boundaries with ’05’s Twins, the album catapults into the whirlwind opener “Suffer For Fashion” with a baby gab sound bite, before detouring into the minute-long “Sink The Seine” and resurfacing with the sonic glitter of “Cato As A Pun.” For all its day-glo trimming, Hissing Fauna gives a reason for glam rock to be interesting again. Just take a moment to sort through any YouTube video of the band’s garishly ornate live performances, which loop abstract animation on-screen behind the band, bric-a-brac littering the stage while Barnes readies himself in a giant Oriental wizard costume with an oversized lobster claw on his arm … yeah, I don’t get it either. Hidden in their arabesque couture, Of Montreal somehow manage to tap into a third-eye sexuality, chock full of blatantly queer glitz that still feels psychologically dormant, like an overdrive version of what Bowie attempted with his androgynous rock-star persona of Ziggy Stardust. In fact, when I was able to catch them live this year (with opening act Loney, Dear!), Barnes broke suit with their own material to do a set of Ziggy covers with “Moonage Daydream” and “Starman” back-to-back, which was probably my favorite live moment all year long, added to what was already the best concert I’d seen since Beck’s Midnight Vultures tour in ‘99. Every track flaunting its pirouette disco, there’s not a weak moment on this entire sprawling record, peaking mid-album with the nearly 12-minute “The Past Is A Grotesque Animal” that hovers near hysterical collapse were it not for its persistent beat that gives Barnes a platform for his soliloquy rants, such as the tongue-lashing, “Let’s tear the shit apart/ Let’s tear the fucking house apart/ Let’s tear our fucking bodies apart/ Let’s just have some fun.” In relief, the remainder of the album buoys him back to his steady self and ends with a lighter, more self-assured dynamic that breathes new life into the tongue-in-cheek hedonism of “Bunny Ain’t No Kind Of Rider” and break-up bitterness of “She’s A Rejector.” With Hissing Fauna, Of Montreal continue to perfect their decade-old mold without having to break it quite yet, as they, incredibly enough, still to sound avant garde even as they’re comfortably familiar.