Paralytic Stalks is the eleventh full-length studio album by American group of Montreal. It was released on the Polyvinyl website and in stores on February 7, 2012. The band released the album in several formats, including music download, CD, cassette, vinyl, and a special-edition "Fuchsia Purple" vinyl, which was limited to 1,500 copies. Later pressings of the vinyl were offered in yellow as well as black vinyl. All physical versions of the album featured free digital downloads. To support the release of the album, of Montreal toured America in early 2012.
| Paralytic Stalks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | February 7, 2012 | |||
| Recorded | Sunlandic Studios (Athens, Georgia) | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 58:05 | |||
| Label | Polyvinyl | |||
| Producer | Kevin Barnes | |||
| Of Montreal chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 62/100[1] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [2] |
| The A.V. Club | B+[3] |
| Consequence of Sound | [4] |
| Drowned In Sound | 7/10[5] |
| Paste Magazine | 7.2/10[6] |
| Pitchfork | 4.6/10[7] |
| Rolling Stone | [8] |
| Sputnikmusic | [9] |
| Tiny Mix Tapes |   [10] |
| Under the Radar |   [11] |
Sound and style
editThe recording of the album is dense, featuring dark tones and an indiscriminate eclectic nature both electronically and aesthetically. The album features a wide array of music, ranging from "pseudo-country" and, to a larger degree, neo-prog often switching and mixing music styles multiple times through the course of a song. Most of the recording was done with a Synclavier 9600 workstation. Kevin Barnes's lyricism also returns to the confessional style heard in Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?, entailing dark topics such as revenge, self-hatred, the human condition, and their painful relationship with their wife Nina. It has been called their most personal recording to date.[12]
Recording
editThe album was recorded in Barnes' personal studio and was mixed at Chase Park Transduction with engineer Drew Vandenberg, who has mixed albums by Toro y Moi, Futurebirds, and Kishi Bashi. Kevin is the producer, songwriter, and co-engineer for the album. The album features a crew of hired session musicians for the first time in of Montreal's history and features horn and flute player Zac Colwell as a new addition to the band's line-up.[13] While Kevin Barnes is known to take primary creative control of their recordings, K. Ishibashi of Kishi Bashi was a known collaborator on this record and was said by Barnes to have helped shape the songs.[14]
Reception
editThe reception from critics has been mixed, with the average critical score being a 62 out of 100, according to Metacritic. Some have praised its emotional rawness,[15] while others thought its divergence from the band's previous poppy style was alienating.[16]
Track listing
editAll tracks are written by Kevin Barnes
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Gelid Ascent" | 4:17 |
| 2. | "Spiteful Intervention" | 3:40 |
| 3. | "Dour Percentage" | 4:39 |
| 4. | "We Will Commit Wolf Murder" | 5:41 |
| 5. | "Malefic Dowery" | 2:36 |
| 6. | "Ye, Renew the Plaintiff" | 8:45 |
| 7. | "Wintered Debts" | 7:33 |
| 8. | "Exorcismic Breeding Knife" | 7:41 |
| 9. | "Authentic Pyrrhic Remission" | 13:13 |
Credits
edit- Mixed by Kevin Barnes and Drew Vandenberg at Chase Park Transduction
- Mastered by Greg Calbi
References
edit- ^ Paralytic Stalks Reviews - Metacritic
- ^ Paralytic Stalks - Of Montreal : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards : AllMusic
- ^ Of Montreal: Paralytic Stalks | Music | MusicalWork Review | The A.V. Club
- ^ Album Review: of Montreal – Paralytic Stalks | Consequence of Sound
- ^ "of Montreal - Paralytic Stalks Album Review for Drowned In Sound". Archived from the original on 2012-02-05. Retrieved 2012-02-07.
- ^ of Montreal: Paralytic Stalks :: Music :: Reviews :: Paste
- ^ Fitzmaurice, Larry (6 February 2012). "Of Montreal: Paralytic Stalks Album Review". Pitchfork.
- ^ Paralytic Stalks | Album Reviews | Rolling Stone
- ^ "of Montreal - Paralytic Stalks Album Review". Sputnikmusic.
- ^ "of Montreal - Paralytic Stalks Album Review for Tiny Mix Tapes".
- ^ of Montreal: Paralytic Stalks (Polyvinyl) | Under The Radar
- ^ Polyvinyl Record Co. - of Montreal - Paralytic Stalks
- ^ Of Montreal Taking 'Paralytic Stalks' on Ambitious 2012 Tour | SPIN | Newswire
- ^ Of Montreal's Kevin Barnes Learns to Play With Others on 'Paralytic Stalks' - Spinner
- ^ "Paralytic Stalks".
- ^ "Of Montreal: Paralytic Stalks".