Review Summary: I'm ugly and I'm proud!
The of Montreal most people remember probably comes from their work on releases like 2004’s Satanic Panic or 2007’s Hissing Fauna. It’s to be expected I suppose, with the former being the project’s Polyvinyl Records debut and the latter being their “mainstream” breakthrough. But to me, these albums aren’t what come to mind when the name of Montreal is spoken. I was far more enamored by their early Bar/None and Kindercore Records output; lo-fi pop with the campy edge of a high school theater. “Geek music,” if you will. I use that term lovingly, I promise. But it’s an inescapable fact that early of Montreal is excessively uncool. Like, it feels like it was meticulously crafted to be lame. 60s psych pop that sounded more like showtunes recorded through a car stereo? Suffice it to say, there’s a very good explanation as to why these early works didn’t catch on like their later work did.
But before the glitz and glamour of 2000s indie hype fame (if that even was a thing), even before of Montreal’s first full album, of Montreal was just one person: Kevin Barnes. True to its name, The Early Four Track Recordings is a collection of songs Barnes recorded by himself back in 1996. The bulk of these songs are short and aren’t very refined, as you would expect demos to be. That’s not what’s interesting about this little collection. No, what’s most interesting is that there’s almost no difference between the production on these tracks and those that were recorded for their first true album, 1997’s Cherry Peel. When I first decided to check Early Four Track Recordings, I was struggling to imagine how much different these songs could be from what oM would eventually release as true albums. And as it turns out, there really isn’t a very big difference. The Early Four Track Recordings is proof that from the beginning Kevin Barnes had a very clear vision for what kind of music of Montreal would play. Even with the addition of new members and better recording methods as the years went on, you could still very clearly hear a mission statement on the rough recordings found here. At least, for a while.
I’ll be perfectly honest: it’s a bit difficult to listen to oM’s more recent output. Because for what seems like a long time, it feels as if that original mission has been lost by Barnes. Instead of letting his freak flag fly proudly like he does here, he hides behind a mask of layers. And with each added layer, that original sound has become more and more hidden. Almost as if he’s ashamed of it. And from Barnes’s practices of rerecording his early albums for re-releases, it’s safe to say that this is likely the case. Growing as an artist is one thing, but abandoning your sound is an entirely different matter. Especially when that sound is core to what made you stand out in the first place. Traces of the sound found here, however faint, could still be heard on even their most popular records; the ones people remember of Montreal for. The Early Four Track Recordings may never be as revered as the band’s other work, but it just may be their most important. If only because it was the first of Montreal to be ugly and proud of it.
