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Of Montreal
Biography
The brainchild of singer/guitarist Kevin Barnes, euphoric indie popsters Of Montreal were among the second wave of bands to emerge from the sprawling Elephant 6 collective. A native of Athens, GA, Barnes was inspired to form the group in the wake of a broken romance with a woman from Montreal; signing to Bar/None while living in Florida, he subsequently moved to Cleveland and Minneapolis in search of compatible bandmates, finally returning home to collaborate with bassist Bryan Helium (also a member of Athens' Elf Power) and drummer Derek Almstead.

Of Montreal's debut album, Cherry Peel, appeared in mid-1997, followed that autumn by an EP, The Bird Who Continues to Eat the Rabbit's Flower. After Helium left to focus on Elf Power full-time, Almstead assumed bass duties, and keyboardist Dottie Alexander and drummer Jamie Huggins joined the lineup; still, the second Of Montreal full-length, 1998's The Bedside Drama: A Petite Tragedy, was recorded primarily as a Barnes solo project. Multi-instrumentalist A.C. Forrester signed on for 1999's sublime The Gay Parade; the singles retrospective Horse & Elephant Eatery followed in the spring of 2000. The group continued with the release of Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies: A Variety of Whimsical Verse in April 2001 and Aldhils Arboretum in September of 2002, both for Kindercore.