Of Montreal - Paralytic Stalks: Album Review

rating: 3.5

As part of the now-legendary €˜Elephant 6€™ indie rock movement of the 90s, of Montreal have a massive legacy to live up to- the collective of bands, including Neutral Milk Hotel, The Olivia Tremor Control and The Apples in Stereo, all mostly fizzled out and disappeared, leaving only a few psychedelic gems to look back on and love. Of Montreal, however carried on making music, making brilliant twee-pop albums whilst their contemporaries were otherwise disappeared. Their eleventh studio album, Paralytic Stalks has a lot to live up to then- as a band that has not yet released a bad album. The first track on Paralytic Stalks, €˜Gelid Ascent€™ is a spacey rock song that feels miles away from the airy fairy twee we are used to hearing from the band. As the first track merges into the second though, their trademark twee sound returns in the oddest way possible, sounding both poppy and experimental at the same time. The next tracks, Dour Percentage and We Will Commit Wolf Murder both fly past with the piano driven twee pop that makes of Montreal so great having a heavy presence on both tracks managing to feel a little different and similar at the same time, to everything they€™ve done before, in the best way possible. In what feels almost folky with its blissful harmonies and woodwinds, Malefic Dowery is the shortest track on the album and possibly one of the best- either way it acts as a nice lead into the slightly weirder, Ye Renew the Plaintiff, an eight minutes of funky awesomeness and shredding guitars. Side two in general (If we pretend I€™m listening to it on a record and not itunes) seems more experimental and weirder than the first half in general, with longer tracks and different sounds on each track. Perhaps the best track on the entire album though is Wintered Debts, which jumps between the mellow and the upbeat before going into an instrumental bit towards the end of the track, with strings and organs and a whole host of other instruments. The penultimate song on Paralytic Stalks is weirder still: Exorcismic Breeding Knife is easily the most experimental on the track and has some creepy strings and brass. Finally, Paralytic Stalks comes to an end with the twelve minute long €˜Authentic Pyyric Remission€™ and its blend of twee, pop, folk, synth, and just about anything else thrown in for good measure. As the longest track on the album, I€™m not entirely sure it is the best but it sure is catchy during the middle. Paralytic Stalks is not the best of Montreal album I€™ve heard, but it is far from a dent in their legacy. I like the experimentation and the instruments used on the album, but can€™t help feeling I like the twee-er first half of the album more than the more experimental second, which is probably a bad thing to say.