Hissing Fauna Are You the Destroyer?
Common Sense Note
Parents should know that this soft indie album is pivotal for older adolescents breaking into early adulthood, as lyrics talk about virtues that accompany growing up: nihilism, indecision, and impatience. Although the lyrics and messages are intense, there's not much to be worried about -- just a few evocative lyrics such as "but you will never have me/to me, you're just some faggy girl," "a girl kissing girls," "Chemicals/Don't flatten my mind/Chemicals/Don't mess me up this time," and "there's the girl that left me bitter/want to pay some other girl to just walk up to her/and hit her."
Families can talk about the character archetype often used in indie rock: the social deviant and experimental rebel. Of Montreal's lyrics are gratingly personal. How do you relate to the hedonism and nihilism in the young adult scene? Is this unfamiliar or familiar territory to you and your peers? In what ways are these themes constructive and destructive?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Karen Fu
Of Montreal is a rare breed reminiscent of classics like David Bowie and David Byrne, but freshly indie rock like The Shins. They offer disco-inspired, glimmery music that classifies as almost new wave dance sounds with some psychedelia prog-rock thrown in the mix. Surprisingly, they also manage to weave in and out of a groovy pop to round out the happy mix.
The first tune, "Suffer for Fashion," for example, zooms into a cutesy, whimsical ditty. But the contrasting lyrics are about emasculating, emoting, emaciating, and then melting down together into each other -- forever. Definitely obtuse lyrics, but they somehow smartly hone in on the crisis of creating an identity that's so intrinsic when growing up.
The Beck/Prince-influenced song "Faberge Falls for Shuggie" is a whirring trip that's sexually charged, but only if you listen closely. The funky sound pays homage to raging hormones of young adulthood with lyrics such as "be careful how you touch me/ my body is an earthquake ready to receive you/my mind's making glaciers."
The album as a whole is fun -- if not decidedly spaced out and a bit disjointed-- and is perfect to listen to when stuck in a rut.
Of Montreal fans will also like Polyphonic Spree and The Shins.
Rate It!
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Sexual ContentLyrics like "we've got to keep it physical," "let's tear our f--king bodies apart," and "the sex in my walk was cotton soft." |
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ViolenceSomewhat abstract lyrics ("it takes more to delight the cadaver," "he's my dark mutation," and "this demon heart of the master's hand crush me") and a few more direct lines: "there's the girl that left me bitter/want to pay some other girl to just walk up to her/and hit her." |
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LanguageSeveral mentions of "f---k" in its different forms, and the word "faggy." |
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Social Behavior"The Past Is A Grotesque Animal" has a few lines about lesbians: "a girl kissing girls" and "but you will never have me/to me, you're just some faggy girl." |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoSome dabbling with chemical substance, liquor, and smoking cigarettes: "chemicals don't make me sick again" and "they're outside/smoking cigarettes." |
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