Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?

Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? the eighth album from Of Montreal, is trippy, offbeat, and terribly infectious. With their quirky brand of psychedelia, Of Montreal (who are actually from Georgia) manage to somehow combine upbeat, catchy, pop music with incredibly depressing lyrics. In the song “A Sentence of Sorts in Kongsvinger,” a cheerful, dancable beat provides the backdrop to this opening line: “I spent the winter on the verge of a total breakdown while living in Norway.” Bizarre but always melodic, I really enjoyed how Of Montreal are experimental, but still structured and musical. This album brings out all of the good points of psychedelic pop without droning on endlessly or making me feel like I would only understand it if I had taken acid first. My favorite track on this record is “She's a Rejector” because of its warm, '60s-inspired guitar sound. This is a band I shall look forward to hearing more from.

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