of Montreal

The lynch pin and founder of of Montreal has always been Kevin Barnes (guitar) and has found him, of late, undertaking more and more of the creative input.

Together with Derek Almstead (drums, then bass) and Bryan Poole (bass) they recorded three lo-fi indie pop styled albums, Cherry Peel (1997), The Bedside Drama: A Petite Tragedy (1998) and The Gay Parade (1999). Poole left after the first album and Barnes recruited Jamey Huggins (drums), Dottie Alexander (keyboards) and Andy Gonzales. However, ongoing collaboration with other members of the Elephant Six collective was a feature of their output then and has remained so.

The band didn't release a new studio album until 2001's Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies: A Variety of Whimsical Verse and changes in their style, begun with The Gay Parade, became more evident, as they moved to a more electronic sound.

When Kindercore folded after 2002's Aldhils Arboretum, it left of Montreal without a label and facing a period of unrest as Andy and Derek left the band. Consequently, 2004's album Satanic Panic in the Attic was almost a solo effort by Barnes, although it went out with the of Montreal name on Polyvinyl Records. Much the same could be said of the following albums The Sunlandic Twins (2005) and the hotly anticipated Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? (2007), both of which were moving forward creatively due, in part, to darkening themes in Barnes' personal life.