At the other end of the single-minded songwriting spectrum comes Kevin Barnes’ of Montreal. The impressive autobiographical album Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? works its way inside of me in the same way that Ultra Vivid Scene’s debut did, this time due to the dizzying array of musical styles thrown together, often within the same song.

Much of the album manically balances euphoric tunes with lyrical depression, but The Past Is a Grotesque Animal – the album’s centerpiece – breaks that pattern through a twelve minute droning spiral that matches anything that came out of Nine Inch Nails’ Pretty Hate Machine. Squealing synthesizers and other detritous hide in its corners to echo the mess that Kevin vocalises: a rampaging collection of torments.

Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? – iTunes UK
Amazon UK