Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? is the eighth album by American indie pop band of Montreal, released on January 7, 2007. The album was written, performed, and recorded by Kevin Barnes, with assistance from friends and family: prominent Elephant Six members Bryan Poole, Jamey Huggins and Heather McIntosh, as well as Barnes' wife Nina Grottland, credited as Nina Twin, and daughter Alabee Barnes, credited as Alabee Blonde. Credits also feature Georgie Fruit, a glam rock alter ego of Barnes. Barnes has described the album as a concept album, detailing their transformation from Kevin Barnes into Georgie Fruit. Georgie Fruit exists as Kevin Barnes' alter ego, which they will assume for the final half of the album, as well as the two subsequent LPs, Skeletal Lamping and False Priest. According to "Labyrinthian Pomp", Georgie Fruit is a "dark mutation for my demented past time". The transformation takes place during "The Past Is a Grotesque Animal", the 12-minute-long "turning point" of the album. In addition, the album namechecks many things commonly associated with glam rock, such as drugs, art and fashion; "The Past Is a Grotesque Animal" alludes to Edward Albee's play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and specifically mentions Georges Bataille's novella Story of the Eye. Barnes credits their being prescribed antidepressants with the making of the album. "The real issue was a chemical thing, so when I finally got on medication, that balanced it out. So that helped me have a better perspective on things and helped my relationship with my wife and helped me through [the album]." "Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse", the album's first single, chronicles their struggle with chemical imbalance and mood disorders.
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
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.
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
Rubbish