Search - Of Montreal :: Cherry Peal

Cherry red and in love

E. A Solinas | MD USA | 01/15/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Of Montreal sprang into existance with their debut "Cherry Peel," but they might as well have called it "All You Need Is Love." It has cheery pop melodies and offbeat lyrics, but the most noticeable thing is the focus on love -- especially hearts-and-flowers, pounding-heart love.



It opens with "Everything Disappears When You Come Around," a charming acoustic ballad that is either really sweet or really disturbing, depending on how you feel about vanishing ears and headless birds. The vibe continues in songs like the electronic-tinged "I Can't Stop Your Memory," the rollicking "Don't Ask Me To Explain" and bizarre "Sleeping in the Beetle Bug."



The second half opens with a peculiar friendship/love ode that begins, "Tim, wish you were born a girl,/So I could've been your boyfriend." What follows is a mishmash of melancholy laments ("You looked in my eyes,/Then said, "I'm so sorry") and puppy-love songs, ending with the lines: "You've got a special gift./Do you see how you're changing the world/just by hanging around?" It doesn't get much more enchanting than that.



Love is something that seeps into almost every Of Montreal albums -- love, kissing, lovers, and relationships that either bloom or slowly decline. "Cherry Peel" is mostly on that subject, although it does dip into feel-good ditties here and there ("No matter how you died through winter,/In spring you're born again,/Your life might not be going good,/But spring helps you to pretend.")



The Elephant 6 bands are known for having a sort of sixties vibe. "Cherry Peel" has the sunniness from the best of the sixties pop, along with the sparkling multilayered melodies. But the musical tinkering is too sparse compared to their later work. The acoustic guitar takes center stage, with a bit of sitar and muted percussion woven in.



With music so simple, it's up to Kevin Barnes to keep things weird. Some songs have straightforward lyrics, but others say that "I'd like to marry all of my close friends,/And live in a big house together by an angry sea." Not to mention "The birds have no heads when you come around./Everything loses its legs when you come around." Is that a good thing or not? Who cares, it's all strange and sweet.



"Cherry Peel" is a relatively unpolished piece of work by Of Montreal, and doesn't dip as far into musical madness as their later work. But as a collection of oddball love songs, few things can match it."

A beautiful exposition on love and more

kyyp | Kentucky, USA | 04/30/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Of Montreal's first, and still their best, "Cherry Peel" is an indie pop delight like none other. Though parts of the album are weaker, and it winds down near the end, Kevin Barnes' frank writings on the meaning of love (especially the puppy love of crushes) and the band's flawless pop style makes up for their shortcomings. It is dissapointing that Of Montreal will probably never make an album on this subject again, but on the other hand they don't really need to. If any song has ever captured the meaning of brief love, it's "Baby" and if any song has ever got down exactly how it is to be unsure about another's feelings and thus having a hard time sorting out your own, it's "Don't Ask Me to Explain".It opens with a simple, but characteristically strange love song, "Everything Dissapears When You Come Around", and it never leaves it's core themes. And there's nothing wrong with that. It'd be a classic if it weren't for some of the later songs and the unfortunate fact that the cheap recording equipment mars the album's beauty at times. Still, I have to say you should pick it up."

The best collection of songs this decade has heard

tygermilk@hotmail.com | 04/16/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"quite minimalist in production; quite genius in melodic orchestration; brilliant songwriting-pop music has never heard such harmonic and intelligent melodies....as quoted by a friend, "very clever." stranded on a desert island with this would be heaven."