And while Coquelicot was clearly more ambitious than its predecessor, it wasn't a vast transformation in either quality or style. The group's longest previous respite between LPs was the two-year hiatus between The Gay Parade and Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies: A Variety of Whimsical Verse. Since 1997, Of Montreal have churned out roughly an LP a year, not to mention untold EPs, B-sides, and an effective collection of singles. Two years removed from Aldhils Arboretum, their last studio album of new material, the band has had- by Of Montreal standards- a relatively long time to hone their sound and explore a more cohesive approach to songwriting, one less encumbered by oblique concepts. Evidently, the band has had trouble keeping the attention of record labels as well, spreading their seven-album yield amongst five different imprints. And although Of Montreal haven't released a real dud in the band's eight-year recording life, the most engaging thing about their songs is often their longwinded, quasi-literary titles.
The only real adoration I've felt for any of their tracks is for "Don't Ask Me to Explain", a simplistic ditty from the band's debut LP that manages to do Weezer better than Weezer themselves. I've always pegged Of Montreal as one of those inessential bands. I suppose this critical tactic is prevalent because there really are artists who fit this simplistic bill, ones whose records are about as essential to a pop fan as the work of a bad Zeppelin knockoff would be to a metalhead. I often wonder why music fans aren't more resistant to this type of summary delineation surely there's more to Jeff Magnum's twisted genius than a childish idolization of the Beach Boys, just as Will Cullen Hart's powers don't derive from something abnormal in the water he drank as a kid.
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