A Star is Born

Aside from being tons of fun, the release of Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? has a weighty effect: A star is born.We already know Of Montreal mastermind Kevin Barnes can pull off the nearly-impossible task of creating indie-credible pop. He spawned nine oddball collections with Of Montreal and he’s doing it now essentially as a one-man band, having written and recorded much of Hissing Fauna alone.

However, Of Montreal’s lyrics have been fairly detached, as lyrics must be when they describe quirky characters and swirling scenes of fantasy. This time, they are not. On Hissing Fauna, Barnes’ poignant words leap through the hazy sunshine of ‘60s-style vocal melodies and cheery, buzzing synthesizers. The new earnestness in Kevin’s chirp of a voice suggests it is his own hopes, dreams, and pain he delivers on a pretty pop platter.

To begin “Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse” he begs, “Come on, mood…shift back to good again,” as dismayed synthesizers wheeze behind him like robot bagpipes. When melody enters like a sugar rush, he implores his unruly brain chemicals to treat him kindly. In “Suffer for Fashion” he hopes everyone will “all melt down together” with such euphoria that it’s impossible not to be tempted.

Listening to Hissing Fauna, one can’t help but wonder exactly who is this “faun of a man” whose “inner cosmology has become too dense to navigate.” But is Kevin Barnes ready to move from creator to personality? The video for “Heimdalsgate” offers a clue. In a final scene he stands draped in plumage, regarding an audience through glitter eye-makeup with an expression that seems to say, “I am yours.”