Listening to of Montreal is an active experience. While the Kevin Barnes–fronted band can delight anyone with its disco-funk falsetto harmonies and addictive indie-psych sound, the real joy comes from understanding all of the fanciful references crammed into each song’s lyrics. It’s what helps of Montreal stand out from the rest of the indie-dance-rock crowd, and survive after sixteen albums—including its latest full-length, Aureate Gloom.
Where else can you learn about Greek mythology, psychologists, and nineteenth- and twentieth-century intellectuals, in between shredding guitar riffs and oh-so-satisfying synth lines?
For nearly twenty years, Kevin Barnes has been assuming that his audiences are as intelligent and clever as he is. And while we are flattered, at some point, everyone needs a refresher course on obscure names and myths that he drops into every of Montreal release. Below, you’ll find a handy cheat sheet to Barnes’s loftiest references.
“In Dreams I Dance With You” from Cherry Peel (1997)
“Orenda, if you were here / I could walk through you / Orenda”
Orenda: a spiritual, powerful energy believed by the Iroquois to be possessed by all natural things in the universe.
“Let’s Do Everything for the First Time Forever” from Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies: A Variety of Whimsical Verse (2001)
“You are a miracle like Hanze Cercheek transposing scores by Satie on the beak of an inimical red breasted lark”
Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (1866–1925): an eccentric French pianist and composer who found great fame and acclaim within the avant-garde movement.
“Rapture Rapes The Muses” from Satanic Panic in the Attic (2004)
“Gloomy Erebus is an anathema to me / All of them dancing like flames and the sad enmity / I wonder if I understand”
Erebus: a primordial deity who is most commonly associated with darkness within Greek mythology.
“You hit me so hard like a Wong Kar Wai beginning / I’m exploding in smiles my equilibrium is spinning”
Wong Kar-wai (1958–present): celebrated Hong Kong director, best known for his films Chungking Express, Happy Together (for which he won Best Director at Cannes), and In the Mood For Love.
“My British Tour Diary” from Satanic Panic in the Attic (2004)
“Performing with the Apples / And then crashing at the Wrights / Bitching because Steven booked us / On such early flights”
The Apples in Stereo (1992–present): a band in the Elephant Six Collective, of which of Montreal is also a member
“Art Snob Solutions” from The Sunlandic Twins [Bonus EP] (2005)
“It’s time to murder everyone who’s never heard of Apollinaire / Send them all to hell, it’s only fair”
Guillaume Apollinaire (1880–1918): a multi-talented French writer, poet, playwright, and art critic credited with championing cubism and coined the term “surrealism.”
“Wraith Pinned to the Mist (and Other Games)” from The Sunlandic Twins (2005)
“We’ll play Tristan and Izolde, but make sure I see white sails”
Tristan and Izolde: an ancient tale about the twisted and adulterous love affair between an English knight (Tristan) and an Irish princess (Izolde) who is betrothed to the Cornish king: Wagner composed an opera, it was so messy.
“So Begins Our Alabee” from The Sunlandic Twins (2005)
“The chrysalis is breaking and the super ego’s waking / I’ve been a gloomy Petrarch with a quill as weepy as Dido”
Petrarch (1304–1374): an Italian renaissance poet whose work (mostly his sonnets) was widely spread as a perfect model for modern lyrical poetry. He is also often called the “father of humanism.”
“Will You Let Me Into Your Dream?” from The Sunlandic Twins [Japanese Bonus Tracks] (2005)
“I’ll be as silent as a sun beam / I’ll be as gentle as Debussy”
Claude Debussy (1862–1918): an honored French composer whose work was praised for its innovative nature, tonality, and use of non-traditional scales.
“The Past is a Grotesque Animal” from Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? (2007)
“I fell in love with the first cute girl that I met who could appreciate / George Bataille”
Georges Bataille (1897–1962): A French intellectual and writer who was mostly concerned with base materialism and eroticism. He also founded Acephale, a short secret society based on his obsession with human sacrifice.
“Labyrinthian Pomp” from Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? (2007)
“She’s so meta / References Stendhal / Shares my strange urge / To smash a window in every house on our block”
Stendhal (1783–1842): the nom de plume of French novelist Marie-Henri Beyle. He wrote Le Rouge et le Noir and Armance, among others, and was known best as one of the forefathers of realism.
“Famine Affair” from False Priest (2010)
“Thought she was my Annie Hall / Or at least Ali MacGraw”
Annie Hall (1977): A romantic comedy starring Woody Allen and Diane Keaton in the title role, widely considered one of Allen’s greatest films.
“Obviousatonicnuncio” from Daughter of Cloud (2012)
“I will video your liberation from the Cycle of Samsara / In my empire of negation there’s no humbling nativity and I’m reading without one”
The Cycle of Samsara: the eternal and endless cycle of reincarnation found primarily within Buddhism, Taoism, and Hinduism.
“Steppin’ Out” from Daughter of Cloud (2012)
“Tucked you in with a bedtime story / Act all whorey / Sports fantasy about Robert Horry”
Robert Horry (1970–present): a retired seven-time national champion (with three different teams) NBA player aptly nicknamed “Big Shot Rob.”
“Amphibian Days” from Lousy with Sylvianbriar (2013)
“If this is Tartarus, which of us is Echidna which one Arakiel?”
Tartarus: the chasm of suffering and torture within ancient Greek mythology where souls were judged after death. The deep dungeon was also (conveniently) a Titan prison
Echidna: the literal “mother of all monsters” in Greek mythology. She was a horrifying half snake, half nymph beast.
Arakiel: one of the fallen angels from the Book of Enoch.
“Belle Glade Missionaries” from Lousy with Sylvianbriar (2013)
“I have a sense you wanna be / The female Henry Miller / Cynically referring to your lovers as your pricks and / Exploiting other people’s madness”
Henry Miller (1891–1980): an American writer, critic, and painter best know for his notoriously “obscene” novels Black Spring, Tropic of Cancer, and Tropic of Capricorn.
“Bassem Sabry” from Aureate Gloom (2015)
“People disappear on the wrong side of this revolution / When they resurface, there’s a black hole in their skull”
Bassem Sabry (1982–2014): a well-known Egyptian civil rights activist, film producer, and blogger/journalist who reported widely on the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011.
