Suvarna Garge (Editor)

Paralytic Stalks

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Released
  
February 7, 2012

Artist
  
Of Montreal

Producer
  
Kevin Barnes

Length
  
58:05

Release date
  
7 February 2012

Label
  
Polyvinyl Record Co.

Paralytic Stalks cdnpitchforkcomalbums17408822e6471jpg

Recorded
  
Sunlandic Studios (Athens, Georgia)

Paralytic Stalks (2012)
  
Daughter of Cloud (2012)

Genres
  
Psychedelic pop, Contemporary classical music, Experimental pop, Avant-garde music, Sound collage

Similar
  
Of Montreal albums, Psychedelic pop albums, Other albums

Of montreal paralytic stalks full album


Paralytic Stalks is the eleventh full-length studio album by psychedelic pop group, of Montreal. It was released on the Polyvinyl website and in stores on February 7, 2012. The band has released the album in several formats, including: Digital, CD, Cassette, Vinyl, and a special-edition "Fuchsia Purple" vinyl, which is limited to 1,500 copies. Later pressings of the vinyl were offered in yellow as well as black vinyl. All physical versions of the album feature free digital downloads. To support the release of the album, of Montreal toured America in early 2012.

Contents

Of montreal paralytic stalks album review


Sound and Style

The recording of the album is dense, featuring dark tones and an indiscriminate eclectic nature both electronically and aesthetically. The album features a wide array of music, ranging from "pseudo-country" and, to a larger degree, neo-prog often switching and mixing music styles multiple times through the course of a song. Most of the recording was done with a Synclavier 9600 workstation. Kevin Barnes's lyricism also returns to the confessional style heard in Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?, entailing dark topics such as revenge, self-hatred, the human condition, and his painful relationship with his wife Nina. It has been called his most personal recording to date.

Recording

The album was recorded in Barnes' personal studio and was mixed at Chase Park Transduction with engineer Drew Vandenberg, who has mixed albums by Toro y Moi, Futurebirds, and Kishi Bashi. Kevin is the producer, songwriter, and co-engineer for the album. The album features a crew of hired session musicians for the first time in of Montreal's history and features horn and flute player Zac Colwell as a new addition to the band's line-up. While Kevin Barnes is known to take primary creative control of his recordings, K. Ishibashi of Kishi Bashi was a known collaborator on this record and was said by Barnes to have helped shape the songs.

Reception

The reception from critics has been mixed, with the average critical score being a 62 out of 100, according to Metacritic. Some have praised its emotional rawness, while others thought its divergence from the band's previous poppy style was alienating.

Track listing

All tracks written by Kevin Barnes.

Credits

  • Mixed by Kevin Barnes and Drew Vandenberg at Chase Park Transduction
  • Mastered by Greg Calbi
  • Songs

    1Gelid Ascent4:09
    2Spiteful Intervention3:38
    3Dour Percentage4:35

    References

    Paralytic Stalks Wikipedia