Contents

Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer (Polyvinyl - 2007) and Icons, Abstract Thee (Polyvinyl - 2007)



Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?


Suffer For Fashion
Sink The Seine
Cato As A Pun
Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse
Gronlandic Edit
A Sentence Of Sorts In Kongsvinger
The Past Is A Grotesque Animal
Bunny Ain't No Kind Of Rider
Faberge Falls For Shuggie
Labyrinthian Pomp
She's A Rejector
We Were Born The Mutants Again With Leafling

Icons, Abstract Thee

Du Og Meg
Voltaic Crusher / Undrum To Muted Da
Derailments In A Place Of Our Own
Miss Blonde Your Papa Is Failing
No Conclusion


Photo Credits



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Suffer For Fashion


We just want to emote until we're dead
I know we suffer for fashion or whatever
We don't want these days to ever end
We just want to emasculate them forever

Pretty sirens don't go flat
It's not supposed to happen like that, not like that
We've got to keep it physical

When our tellies are six hours away
Please call to say that you miss me, feel me, or whatever
Vicissitudes are boxing our heads
Like they just want to emaciate them forever

Pretty sirens don't go flat
It's not supposed to happen like that, not like that

We've got to keep our little click clicking
at 130 BPM, it's not too slow
If we've got to burn out, let's do it together
Let's all melt down together, together
Let's go together, let's do it together

Forever, forever
Pretty sirens don't go flat
It's not supposed to happen like that, not like that

We've got to keep our little click clicking
at 130 BPM, it's not too slow
If we've got to burn out, let's do it together
Let's all melt down together, together
Let's go together, let's do it together

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130 BPM is indeed not too slow – almost anything over 100 beats per minute is enough to make your heart race. 130 bpms means that there is 2.166 beats every second. It's fast. Try to keep up.







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You're no different from the prints that crease the wires
Or mosquitos that now operate on your brain
Thought that if I sank the Seine I might find you
I'm no different from the claw they mic from the stair
Or fake diamonds that are glued to eyes of plastic crows
Thought that where the planters go, you might find me


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The Seine is the river that flows through Paris. Yep, “the” Paris, in France. It is, as most rivers, totally unsinkable.
Thanks to Jeffrey for pointing out that a seine was also a fishing net (no, not fishnets!!! a fishing net!!!), which you actually sink to encircle a whole school of fish, and then you drag them up. Seine fishing is in some ways the wet equivalent of lamping so it totally makes sense.





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Cato, play with my head.
I won't know the difference
If we're living in the novelist or statistician
Cato, mess with my concepts, my inner vision
Like a strobing light
Please confuse my every decision
I can't even pretend that you are my friend
What has happened to you and I?
And don't say that I have changed
Because, man, of course I have
Are you far too depressed now even to answer the phone?
I guess you just want to shave your head, have a drink, and be left alone
Is that too much to ask?


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* There were several Cato in Roman history, and it is pretty hard to say whether this is a reference to Cato The Younger or Cato The Elder. I tend to think of the later, who seemed more like a manipulative politician than the former. A Roman senator, he is mainly renowned for ending all his speeches on a booming “Carthage must be destroyed!” - a claim that led to the Punic Wars.
This being said, it may not be a reference to ancient history at all. Click here for a list of what or who Cato could be alluding to.




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I'm in a crisis. I need help
Come on mood shift, shift back to good again
Come on, be a friend

Nina Twin is trying to help, and I really hope that she succeeds.
Though I picked the thorny path myself,
I'm afraid, afraid of where it leads

Chemicals, don't strangle my pen
Chemicals, don't make me sick again
I'm always so dubious of your intent
Like I can't afford to replace what you've spent

Nina Twin is trying to help, and I really hope she gets me straight
Because my own inner cosmology has become too dense to navigate

I'm in a crisis. I need help
Come on mood shift, shift back to good again
Come on, be a friend

Chemicals, don't flatten my mind
Chemicals, don't mess me up this time
Know you bait me way more than you should
And it's just like you to hurt me when I'm feeling good


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* Heimdalsgate is the name of a street in Oslo. See Oslo In The Summertime for more information.
* Prometheus is a Greek mythological hero who was sentenced to being tied to a rock and having his liver eaten by eagles every day (and it would grow back every night) because he had given the secret of fire to men (though other stories differ).
* Nina Twin refers to Kevin Barnes's wife.
* A reference to the neurochemicals that are responsible for our moods and emotions. The slightest imbalance in the chemical composition of our brain chemistry may lead to severe depression.




Climb The Ladder

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The surrealists were just nihilists with good imaginations...

I am satisfied, hiding in our friend's apartment
Only leaving once a day to buy some groceries
Daylight, I'm so absent-minded
Nighttime meeting new anxieties
So am I erasing myself? Hope I'm not erasing myself.
I guess it would be nice to give my heart to a god
But which one, which one do I choose?
All the churches fill with losers, psycho or confused
I just want to hold the divine in mind
And forget all of the beauty's wasted

Let's fall back to earth and do something pleasant
We fell back to earth like gravity's bitches
(Physics makes us all its bitches)
I guess it would be nice to help in your escape
From patterns your parents designed
All the party people dancing for the indie star
But he's the worst faker by far
But in the set, I forget all of the beauty's wasted

I guess it would be nice, show me that things can be nice
You've got my back in the city
You've got my back, because I don't want to panic




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* Yet another reference to Oslo, Gronland is the name of a specific area in the Norwegian capital.
* Surrealism is an art movement from the Xxth century. It's too intricate to explain in two sentences so click on it.
* Nihilists believe nothing has value and nothing matters. At all. Ever.






Climb The Ladder

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I spent the winter on the verge of a total breakdown while living in Norway
I felt the darkness of the black metal bands
But being such a fawn of a man, I didn't burn down any old churches,
just slept way too much, just slept...

My mind rejects the frequency,
It's static craziness to me.
Is it a solar fever?

The TV man is too loud, our plane is sleeping on a cloud,
You turn the dial, I'll try and smile
We've eaten plastic weather, this family sticks together,
We will escape from the south to the west side

My mind rejects the frequency
It's just verbosity to me

I spent the winter with my nose buried in a book
While trying to restructure my character
Because it had become vile to its creator
And through many dreadful nights I lay praying to a saint that nobody has heard of
And waiting for some high times to come again

My mind rejects the frequency
It's static craziness to me. Is it a solar fever?

Dirty old shadow, stay away, don't play your games with me
I am older now, I see the way you operate
If you don't hurt me then you die


Climb The Ladder
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*Kongsvinger is a city in southern Norway, located 62 miles away from Oslo.

* In this interview, Kevin explains that the saint that nobody has heard of is an uncle of his who died a long time ago.



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The past is a grotesque animal, and in its eyes you see
How completely wrong you can be
The sun is out, it melts the snow that fell yesterday
Makes you wonder why it bothered
I fell in love with the first cute girl that I met
Who could appreciate Georges Bataille
Standing at Swedish festival discussing "Story of the Eye"
It's so embarrassing to need someone like I do you
How can I explain, I need you here and not here too
I'm flunking out, I'm flunking out, I'm gone, I'm just gone.
But at least I author my own disaster
Performance breakdown and I don't want to hear it
I'm just not available
Things could be different but they're not

The mousy girl screams, "Violence! Violence!"
She gets hysterical because they're both so mean
And it's my favorite scene
But the cruelty's so predictable
It makes you sad on the stage
Though our love project has so much potential
But it's like we weren't made for this world
Though I wouldn't really want to meet someone who was
Do I have to scream in your face?
I've been dodging lamps and vegetables
Throw it all in my face, I don't care
Let's just have some fun, let's tear this shit apart
Let's tear the fucking house apart
Let's tear our fucking bodies apart
But let's just have some fun

Somehow you've red-rovered the gestapo circling my heart
And nothing can defeat you
No death, no ugly world

You've lived so brightly, you've altered everything
I find myself searching for old selves
While speeding forward through the plate glass of maturing cells

I've played the unraveler, the parhelion
But even apocalypse is fleeting
There's no death, no ugly world
Sometimes I wonder if you're mythologizing me like I do you
We want our film to be beautiful, not realistic
Perceive me in the radiance of terror dreams
And you can betray me
But teach me something wonderful
Crown my head, crowd my head
With your lilting effects
Project your fears on to me, I need to view them
See, there's nothing to them
I promise you, there's nothing to them
I'm so touched by your goodness
You make me feel so criminal
How do you keep it together? I'm all, all unraveled
But you know, no matter where we are
We're always touching by underground wires
I've explored you with the detachment of an analyst
But most nights we've raided the same kingdoms
And none of our secrets are physical







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* Georges Bataille was a highly influential (but one of the few that never got to the mainstream even after his death) French writer/sociologist/philosopher. He evolved from surrealism to materialism, creating a body of work that is (to say the least) thought-provoking (and nausea-inducing).
*The Story of the Eye is George Bataille's best known work. It is downloadable here. This is Not Suitable For Work or School, and you probably don't want to leave it lying around kids either. You've been warned.

* “Violence! Violence!” - A quote lifted from Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, a play by Edward Albee.

* The Gestapo was the nazi secret police.


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The Linguistics Lounge has posted an interesting piece on the metaphorical content of the song. Check it out!




Climb The Ladder
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Saw her at Go! kissing girls, what a shock
Said, "You must be an artist"
She muttered her reply, I was judging her friend
As the DJ played a dead jam
No one wants to dance, they're outside smoking cigarettes
Matthew was there, yes, he gave me the eye, saying,
"It doesn't kill to try" then blue lights all around
Eva, I'm sorry, but you will never have me
To me you're just some faggy girl
And I need a lover with soul power
And you ain't got no soul power
She lead me outside to the church with the swing
There I was, her confessor. Her come-on made me blush
Was her crush for the night?
Until I screamed:
"Stop! Hey! You must be aware I'm not alone...
I've got a tigress back at home...
And besides, you wouldn't know what to do with me"
And under the blue lights because because...
Eva, I'm sorry, but you will never have me
To me you're just some faggy girl
And I need a lover with soul power
And you ain't got no soul power










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* The Go bar is a nightclub in Athens, Ga.

* Obviously there are about 30 million Matthews on Earth, but there seems to be only two in the extended of Montreal family, namely ex-bass player Matthew Dawson and child-psychologist/hairdresser/performance artist/sexy surfer boy Matthew Wheeler. For a better idea of how sexy Mr. Wheeler is, take a look at the cover of Skeletal Lamping, he's the one pointing at the sky. Thanks to Dottie for the information.

* Eva also is a real person. As a matter of fact, she's the blonde girl in that picture. She doesn't look faggy to me. Kevin explains it all in this interview.

Now you can't tell I haven't been researching the hell out of this.







Climb The Ladder
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Those with the golden Xs have tried to tell me
(What they say?)
That the bird in my chest was dead
But that's never, never, never
She ain't my thug no more, ain't no kind of killer
And she can break them off if she damn well pleases
Just as long as she brings it home to me
And it's still hot
Can you touch what I'm saying?
It's like, ooh, did Shuggie do it yet?
No, not yet, wait
Those with the golden Xs have tried to tell me
(Tell you what?)
That the sex in my walk was cotton soft
But that's never, never, never

With question marks in my eye
And your strange name pressed to our lips
We arrived at number eleven
So charged and ready for slavery
I won't take the stage straight, understand
Under capes with druggy cock dragons
I want to put out so bad
But something bad says the kid's probably right
Are you deflating at the question?
I don't know, I don't know, I don't know... OK.
Now that the parachute has opened, well,
Don't it make you feel good?

Be careful how you touch me
My body is an earthquake, ready to receive you
Mind's making glaciers, metals for my soldiers
Let's be like strangers touching for the first time
Skeletal lamping, the controller sphere, false priest



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* Fabergé was a Russian jeweller, famous for his eggs.

* Shuggie Otis is a American soul singer/songwriter. His most famous song, Strawberry Letter 23, is also mentioned in St. Exquisite's Confessions.

* There are a lot of clubs, bars, restaurants called the #11, but none of them seem particularly relevant to the of Montreal geography.






Climb The Ladder

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How you wanna tag my style, when I am so superior?
How you wanna hate a thing, when you are so inferior?
How you wanna mess, how you wanna mess my spotless interior?
Let's just say, you are not the destroyer
Let's just say, du er ikke den som ødelegger fitta

I've got my bright girl near me, she's so much taller
Wth a crisp endorsement from the C.C.A.A. Booty Patrol
She's so meta, references Stendhal
Shares my strange urge to smash a window in every house on our block
Delinquent days are here again

I've got my Georgie Fruit on
He's my dark mutation for my demented past time
Giving replicators somewhere to go
But we're authentic
You can test my talons against your cursive body
But the controller spheres have disappeared
And it hurts
It's like to disappear forever, but I'm not afraid

There's two gods for everyone,
one, two gods for the beasts
An hour dead deflects our eggs on latitude 0,1 degree
I trusted you, no, don't explain
Moving in clipped tempos
Making sad dreams of the flags appearing
Crazy how the symbolism works, don't look at them






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* Apparently “you are not the destroyer, pussy” in Norwegian. More or less. Quite possibly less than more.

* The C.C.A.A. Booty Patrol is (unfortunately) not a tribute to our blog. It seems to be some kind of code for everyone who is directly involved with the band. Like every secret organization/cult, joining of Montreal involves a lengthy and elaborate ceremony during which you agree to (a) never wear clothes that match, (b) spend at least 20 minutes applying different layers of glitter make-up before each show, (c ) never complain about the fact that you are touring 365 days a year and hence shortening your lifespan dramatically, (d)
kiss Kevin's middle finger, left calf, right shoulder, and ass, (in that order), (e) never ever ever reveal what C.C.A.A. stands for.

* Stendhal was a French realist writer.

* Georgie Fruit is/was one of Kevin's alter-egos. More information filed under “For Our Elegant Caste.”




Climb The Ladder
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My, my, you busted me like a Robocop
Strike me with your riding crop
I'm forever going celibate tomorrow
But tonight, like success, knows no shame
Oh no, she's a rejector. I must protect myself.
There's the girl that left me bitter
Want to pay some other girl to just walk up to her and hit her,
But I can't, I can't, I can't

My, my, this demon heart of the master's hand
Crush me, why, I don't understand
And I know you're not her
Because the girl of my dreams is probably God
Still, I want you


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*Robocop is the über human policeman from the 1987 blockbuster of the same name.




Climb The Ladder
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She says I'm boring her camera
It takes more to delight the cadaver
Night eyes on icy patrol
Yours were not so Nazi feline
Mine were as dead as monks
And our particles are in motion

Night eyes producing ashes
We love to view unfortunate passions
Still, she takes my photo to bed
No mere limp verse could incite identity destruction
Our particles are in motion

Sometimes we're not legible
But we're the same strange animal
Let them say our love is peculiar, don't care
There's only now, no ever after
We won't let it end in disaster
You are my twin, no I will never go there





Climb The Ladder
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She fell in love with a boy who spoke a second language
And who lived across the ocean in the evil empire

He awoke her sleeping heart and swept away the darkness
An acute fear of flying couldn't keep her away

She landed on her feet and joined his fledgling rock group
As they toured the evil empire, selling t-shirts at the shows

She taught him what was real, she taught him he was okay
That his thoughts were not just rubbish, that he had something good to give

Still his heart was so ambivalent and hopesick
Of her he wasn't ever sure
But she gave in so sweetly that the spirit said
"Boy, you better go run to her”

So when she split, he hopped on a plane
With his parents and his brother
He told her that he loved her
They were married in the summer




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* Du Og Meg means You And Me, in, you've guessed that right, Norwegian.







Climb The Ladder
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Voltaic Crusher/Undrum To Muted Da

I write a thousand songs for you a day
But I never run out of things to say
You're my Ulysses that I'll never end
Now that I fucked up, lost you, sweet friend

Everything is in the trash, and it's my fault
I've destroyed us, I know, it's unrecoverable
If there's a God he will repair your heart
If there's a God, send her an angel
Make him handsome and clever and not crazy
And you notice something wonderful
Someone to love her volcanically

And please, please, please God, don't be a bastard
Christ knows she deserves something nice for a change
Christ knows she deserves something nice for a change

I am a flaw, I'm a mistake
I am faulty, I always break
I tried, you don't believe me, but I did
I tried to mature, be responsible, dot dot dot
But my heart is juvenile
And my character's not so hot

You gave me your hand, I gave you a fist
Please don't lose any sleep over me, baby
I hardly exist
You gave me your hand, I gave you a fist
Please don't lose any sleep over me, baby
I hardly exist
You gave me everything, still I resist
Please don't lose any sleep over me, baby
I hardly exist


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* A reference to Ulysses, a novel by James Joyce. It is one of the most influential novels of the XXth century.





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So she's depressed and I am losing my mind
It's so difficult now
Yes, everything has changed
As we struggle against some impossible current
How can we make things light again? How can we win?

Is happiness even possible?
Don't say you don't believe anymore
Don't say that you are lost to me now
It's a free fucking world, you can go where you want
How can we make things light again? How can we win?

It's a mad free fucking world
You can do what, go where you want
Leave me, don't leave me alone
Leave me, don't leave me alone
It's a free fucking world, you can go where you want





Climb The Ladder
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Miss Blonde Your Papa Is Failing


Little friend, what ever happened?
You should know I went down so hard
Trying to keep the family together
The family together

Sweet friend, know I love you
And I've been struggling so hard, so hard
Trying to keep the family together
The family together

When I look in your eyes, I see me looking back
It's kind of creepy how you own my heart
Yeah, you own my heart
Let's stay together

Sweet friend, was I born to give you a name
And then be erased all because
I couldn't keep it together
Couldn't keep it together?

Little friend, I know I've made it
So, so much harder on us
And lost you because
I couldn't keep it together

When I look in your eyes
I see me looking back
It's kind of creepy how you own my heart
Yeah, you own my heart
Let's stay together






Climb The Ladder
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Tonight I feel like I should just destroy myself
Tonight I feel like I should just explode myself
Myself

Tonight I feel like I should just destroy myself
Tonight I feel like I should just explode myself
Myself

There's someone calling my name
But there's nothing to respond
I lost so much in our collapse
Man, what little hope is gone

The voice said, "Don't worry, friend
The darkness is just a suggestion
No, don't worry, kid
The darkness is just suggestion
No, don't worry, Kevin"

Tonight I feel like I should just destroy myself
Tonight I feel like I should just explode myself
Myself

There's someone calling my name
But there's no one to respond
I lost so much in our collapse
Oh, what little hope is gone

The voice said, "Don't worry, friend
This darkness is just a suggestion
No, don't worry, kid
This darkness is just suggestion
No, don't worry, kid"

Tonight I feel like I should just destroy myself
Tonight I feel like I should just explode myself
Myself

I’m allergic to the world when we are separated
There’s nothing in my heart that’s worth a beating
Feeling like a Styrofoam prop ennui is eating
Oh, sure, we talk and talk and talk
But nothing worth repeating
I feel defeated
I feel defeated
I feel defeated

Now I’m OD’ing on your cocksucker blues
You make me uptight when you just don’t work right
You painted my prison, now something’s wrong
And I never, ever, ever wanted to write this song

I’m killing myself but it’s not suicide
I’m killing myself
I’m killing myself but it’s not suicide
I’m killing myself but my friends will never know
Because I’ve never been
Because I've never been honest with anyone

Always pulling faces from the unprepossessing places
Of the universal mind

I’m crippled by the world when we are divided
There’s nothing in my heart that’s worth the creaking
Feeling like a Pamplona bull that's finished kicking

Although we try to break the loop, it’s always stuck repeating

I feel defeated
I feel defeated
I feel defeated

Now I’m OD’ing on your cocksucker blues
You make me uptight when you just don’t work right
You painted my prison, now something’s wrong

And I never, ever, ever wanted to write this song
I always thought things would change somehow
And we would start getting along but it’s hopeless
Hopeless


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* A reference to what is possibly the stupidest tradition in the world (along with the dropping of a donkey from a church spire, courtesy of our sub-pyrenean friends too). Pamplona is, of course, a city in Spain.

* Cocksucker Blues is the name of an unreleased documentary film about the Rolling Stones.
It is also the title of the 4th part of Don DeLillo's "Underworld."
Again, thanks to Jeffrey for clearing that up.



Climb The Ladder
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Photo Credits


Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse, Bunny Ain't No Kind Of Rider, She's A Rejector, We Were Born The Mutants Again With Leafling, No Conclusion : Mike White.

Suffer For Fashion, Labyrinthian Pomp : Alan Bee.

The Past Is A Grotesque Animal : Josh at sciencevsromance.net

Sink The Seine, Cato As A Pun, Gronlandic Edit, Fabergé Falls For Shuggie, Du Og Meg, Derailments In A Place Of Our Own = Townhaller Adrigu

A Sentence Of Sorts In Kongsvinger : yours truly, I Rule The School.



Climb The Ladder

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