Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?

Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? is the best album of of Montreal aka Kevin Barnes. Indie rock with disruptive melodies that twirl, but in the end land on their feet. Songs with very personal lyrics. "The Past Is a Grotesque Animal" is a modern classic.

Psyched to see some of Montreal here, especially Hissing Fauna. This album may be getting close to its 20th birthday, but it still reverberates uniquely in the indie space even today. Defiantly eccentric and inherently queer, this LP takes quirky yet danceable instrumentals and smothers them in lyrics both heartfelt and smutty, bordering on social extremes for the time given that it came out during the Bush administration. Kevin Barnes wears all of it proudly on his sleeve, and it's that distinct genuineness that makes this 50-minute smorgasbord work so well. I'm guessing this will pick up some pretty negative reviews here given Montreal's style is more of an acquired taste, but it made me happy to see an oft-forgotten early indie contribution featured here.

I enjoyed this. Interesting concept. Clever, quirky, and glammy. Reminds me a little of Sparks (especially on the front half), but with edgier lyrics. Thanks for sharing. Fave Songs: A Sentence of Sorts in Kongsvinger, Suffer for Fashion, Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse, We Were Born the Mutants Again with Leafling, Gronlandic Edit

Interesting Franz Ferdinand vibe here that was quite entertaining. I’ve started wondering about all the 5 ratings I’ve been giving, then wondered why I’d question that all the music aficionados here would come up with a killer list of recommendations.

This is Kevin Barnes' best work, happy to see it on here. Great psychedelic indie pop. One of those albums that feels way shorter than it actually is because it just flows so well. The 11-minute long track is an obvious standout, but I've always also really loved "Suffer for Fashion".

Plus a star for opening with a banger from one of my favourite snowboard film's soundtrack.

Indie pop, enjoyed that

Known of the band name for a long time but never listened. Was nice. My personal rating: 4/5 My rating relative to the list: 4/5 Should this have been included on the original list? No.

I was almost prepared to vote this down on the principle of it starting out with a child or something making objectionable noise, but it quickly becomes quirky and fun so that's a relief.

'The Past is a Grotesque Animal' Immense. Thank you

For fans of the Animal Collective album on the original list. A weirdo pop concept album that invokes glam rock aesthetics and themes, of Montral seemingly perfects the psychedelic indietronica wave of the 2000s. Honestly, there's not a bad song on this album. Never a dull moment while finding ways to stand out with each new song. This is good music. CONTENDER FOR THE LIST: Sure!

I guess I avoided Of Montreal for so long for the crime of falsely implying that they're Canadian. Same with Boards of Canada >:0 Still not as bad as "Big Dick" Manitoba (see: The Dictators) suing actual Canadian Dan Snaith for the right to the name, but still. Shame on me, I guess- this takes some pretty good 2007 electropop and infuses it with Sparksisms and Bowieisms. The closest thing we have on the original list is probably the Scissor Sisters s/t, but this is a bit wackier and more exploratory. First impression is that the album is a little worse after "Grotesque Animal", but still keeps up the oddball energy of the 1st half. Still closer to a 4 than a 3 in my books HL: "Cato as a Pun", "Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse" (wot are these titles), "The Past is a Grotesque Animal" November 15, 2025

They seem to lean hard into quirky titles, which I guess fair enough as it is a quirky album. Wasn't won over immdiately there is a lot to take in but on a second listen I decided I like it.

An interesting listen from a band that a lot of people are really, really, really into. I'm happy for them.

I’ve never been that into of Montreal and I continue to be that way

Rating: 6/10 Best songs: Suffer for fashion

Interesting but also average at times indie pop album. Can’t decided if I should give it one more listen or not before I give my final rating….

I generally liked this pretty well, it falls into an alternative genre I generally get into. A little too clever for its own good - a failing I can identify and sympathize with - and the electronica aspect of the music works well with the overall composition sometimes, but for me missed the mark pretty often as well.

Synth-pop/glam hybrid that's a little grating for this particular set of ears, generally speaking. Too often those landfill indie songs sound like a Flight Of The Conchords parody. "The Past Is A Grotesque Animal" is an extraordinary track though, driven, hypnotic, and not ruined too much by the off-kilter vocals. Maybe one reason to come back to this one later and see if I'll be more predisposed to it with a different mindset. Let's just say that Kevin Barnes' whimsical voice admittedly doesn't fit with the hangover I'm going through today, ha ha. 2.5/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums, rounded up to 3. 7.5/10 for more general purposes (5 + 2.5) Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ----- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 43 Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 54 Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 105 (including this one)

Indie pop, glam rock, art pop, experimental pop, neo-psychedelia. Ni fu ni fa.

It's alright, but I'm not a big fan of this frenetic, frantic sound with nonsense lyrics. Similar to how I feel about New Pornographers. 3 stars.

A good mix of glam, psych and a bunch of other genres, but…it’s a bit much, if I’m being honest.

I enjoyed most of the music production but found the vocals a little grating at times. Sounds like he’s off his meds, but not always in a good way. Avengers out to a 3.

They sound too much like Sparks later stuff. I don’t appreciate Sparks later stuff. I don’t disagree with anything going on with this album. To me, though, it doesn’t thrill, chill, or spill. It ain’t bad. It ain’t for me. Great production. 3/5

Hmm this was a tough one to judge, I’m very close to giving it a 4, but I think that would take multiple listens. My initial impression was that I did like many aspects of this album. I think there’s potential for sure. 3.5 is my initial rating.

Weird, didn’t really like it

Indie rock, NI FU NI FA. 2/5.

This one was in the far end of the indie spectrum where it felt poppy and electronic while also still having some good instrumental elements. The songs were pretty good but kept going into that oddity sphere that was a bit much for Moe at times. Overall it’s a decent album with some very unique musical stylings while still being a palatable cohesive album. If I was into this it’d probably be a 4 but it’s just meh to me. 6.2/10

Not bad 2

They are from USA but as their name suggests they still have the Canadian sickness of maladious indie music. Though they lost me from the start, their extended 12-minute song was a treat in the middle of the project.

Rubbish