An Introduction To Of Montreal

Artists

Album Info

Release Date: 2000

Label: Earworm

Below is a transcription of the sheet included with some copies of the record:
_____________________________________________________________

'an introduction to of montreal'

thank you for buying "an introduction to of montreal". this record is a compilation of songs from our various albums and other releases, thoughtfully selected and arranged chronologically.
it is very exciting for us to introduce our music to an english audience since so many of our favorite bands and songwriters are from britain.

of montreal is not from montreal. kevin thought up the name and it serves as a sort of memorial to a beautiful and moving experience he had in montreal which he felt would influence him for the rest of his days. the experience inspired most of the songs on our first album 'cherry peel' recorded in the fall of 1997 and released on bar-none records.
at that time, the lineup consisted of bryan poole (of elf power) on bass, derek almstead on drums and kevin barnes on guitar and lead vocal. we did one tour in that lineup and recorded the ep 'the bird who ate the rabbit's flower' which was released on kindercore records in the spring of 98. that ep was later remixed and re-released with 3 new songs.

following the ep, bryan decided he had had enough of playing in 2 bands and decided to dedicate his time to elf power. while searching for a replacement on bass, kevin and derek recorded the somewhat autobiographical "the bedside drama: a petite tragedy"- also released on kindercore in the summer of 98. shortly after that album's conclusion, the band expanded with 2 new members, jamey huggins who replaced derek on drums, who took on bass duties, and dottie alexander who brought a fabulous new dimension to the band with her keyboard work and carinet flourishes.

there was still one more piece to the puzzle that needed to be filled in. that piece presented itself in the form of a young man from denver, colorado named andy forrester.
finally, our lineup was complete and with the help of our friends we set to work on our most ambitious album to date, entitled 'the gay parade', which was released on bar-none in the spring of 99. the songs representing that album here are 'jaques lamure', 'the miniature philosopher', 'a man's life flashing before his eyes while he and his wife drove off a cliff into the ocean', 'a collection of poems about water' and the grand finale 'nickee coco and the invisible tree'. the album was intended to give the listener the feeling of being a spectator to a grand and colorful parade. kevin's brother david did the intricate and elaborate album artwork. david is the bands sixth member and in addition to creating illustrations for sleeve art, he also collaborates with kevin on most of the songs and album concepts. on top of that he also creates the props, sets and costumes for our live performances and films.

after 'the gay parade' we recorded a number of singles and compilation tracks which would eventually be comprised together with a few rarities and outtakes into an album entitled 'horse and elephant eatery no elephants allowed: the singles and songles album'. this was our final bar-none record and was released in the summer of 2000.
since then we have started work on a new album entitled 'coquelicot asleep in the poppies'. we have also recorded albums for our other projects 'marshmallow coast', 'great lakes' and 'summer hymns'.
we hope you enjoy the songs presented here, and that you will be encouraged to check out some of our other releases. perhaps we will meet someday that this album will have been the start of a wonderful friendship...

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