Of Montreal

• Genre: Baroque Pop
• Hometown: Athens
• Of Montreal Website

About

Like that proverbial fat guy who gets nicknamed "Tiny," the band Of Montreal is, naturally, neither from Montreal nor (at various times in its decade of existence) even exactly a band per se. After a failed romance with a woman from Montreal, in the late 1990s singer/guitarist Kevin Barnes found himself with a broken heart -- and a great name for a band -- so he "formed" Of Montreal, which at that point consisted only of Barnes. Embarking on a quest for other members, he moved to Florida, Cleveland and Minneapolis (but not Montreal) before returning to his native Athens, Ga., to collaborate with bassist Bryan Helium and drummer Derek Almstead on the band's Beatles-biting, neo-psychedelic debut Cherry Peel. Over the next ten years and as many incense-and-peppermint-fueled albums, Of Montreal vacillated between a band and a Barnes solo project as it weathered the dissolution of its label, Kindercore, and a near-revolving door lineup as band members left, came back and got married. In 2007, Of Montreal released Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? and in 2008, Skeletal Lamping.

- Rachel Devitt