"Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Of Montreal | ||||
from the album Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? | ||||
Released | January 23, 2007 | |||
Genre | Indie pop, neo-psychedelia | |||
Length | 3:18 | |||
Label | Polyvinyl | |||
Songwriter(s) | Kevin Barnes | |||
Producer(s) | Kevin Barnes | |||
Of Montreal singles chronology | ||||
|
"Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse" is the first single released by Polyvinyl Records from Of Montreal's 2007 album Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? . Like the rest of the album, the song was written, performed and recorded by Kevin Barnes. The music video was directed by The Brothers Chaps.
The song opens with a Roland Jupiter 8 bass into a lead made with a Sequential Circuits Prophet 5. Along with a LinnDrum and an electric piano, the quirky electronics give the song a 1985 feel.[ citation needed ]
In an early review of the song, posted shortly after the leak of the album in September 2006, Pitchfork Media's Andy Dubbin describes it as "one of the more breakneck, 'old Of Montreal'-styled songs on an otherwise discofunk-lite album, bringing proper attention to itself without overextending its theme." [1]
In his review for Pitchfork, Dubbin suggests that "'Heimdalsgate' takes up the drugs-as-artistic-inspiration vs. drugs-as-personal-ruin dilemma and plays it out with equally conflicted musical gestures." [1] According to Kevin Barnes, this interpretation is not valid. Asked "Are you a stoner?" by The Stranger's Christopher Frizzelle in direct reference to the song's "chemicals", Barnes says, "Yeah, that has nothing to do with drugs. That's the chemicals in your mind." [2]
FRIZZELLE: Serotonin?
BARNES: Yeah. I went through this chemical depression, and that's when I was writing a lot of the songs for Hissing Fauna. They're all songs about that experience. And I was experiencing it in the moment that I was writing the songs, and sort of asking myself: What the hell is going on? Why are you all of a sudden totally paranoid and plagued by these anxieties? And why is everything so distorted and confusing and fucked up? My lifestyle hadn't changed that much. And then I realized, well, there's something going on inside of me that I don't have control over, and then you realize how vulnerable you are to these things, these elements that you can't understand, or unless you go on medication and get it under control. It's like you're being betrayed by your body.
FRIZZELLE: Sometimes if you just put on a dress or something your whole mood can change.
BARNES: To some degree. I'd gotten to that point where nothing was working. I was borderline suicidal, and my relationship with my girlfriend had totally eroded and she'd gone back to Norway with our daughter and everything was totally fucked, and I was just like, What can I do? "The Past Is a Grotesque Animal" is about that. The lyrics tell the story of what was really going on and the music sort of represents this other emotion that I wish existed. The music was really happy because I wanted to make something that would lift my spirits. [2]
"Heimdalsgate" is the name of the street in Oslo on which Barnes lived; the suffix "-gate" translates from the Norwegian language to mean "street." [3] The name of the street is more precisely Heimdalsgata, Heimdalsgate with the article "the" before it. "Promethean Curse" alludes to the ancient myth of Prometheus; Barnes is thought to be employing the curse as it pertains to "the burdens of consciousness and creativity" inflicted upon mankind when, against the demands of Zeus, Prometheus brought fire to earth. [4]
Heimdal is the Norse god that guards the frozen rainbow bridge between Asgård, where the gods live and Jotunheim (or Udgård) where the Jötnar (jætter) live. At the Norse Armageddon, Ragnarok, he will blow his horn.
Of Montreal is an American indie pop band from Athens, Georgia. It was founded by frontperson Kevin Barnes in 1996, named after a failed romance between Barnes and a woman "of Montreal". The band is identified as part of the Elephant 6 collective. Throughout its existence, of Montreal's musical style has evolved considerably and drawn inspiration from 1960s psychedelic pop acts.
Deerhoof is an American musical group formed in San Francisco in 1994. They consist of founding drummer Greg Saunier, bassist and singer Satomi Matsuzaki, and guitarists John Dieterich and Ed Rodriguez. Beginning as an improvised noise punk band, Deerhoof became widely renowned and influential in the 2000s through their self-produced albums.
Architecture in Helsinki was an Australian indie pop band which consisted of Cameron Bird, Gus Franklin, Jamie Mildren, Sam Perry, and Kellie Sutherland. Before its hiatus, the band released five studio albums: Fingers Crossed (2003), In Case We Die (2005), Places Like This (2007), Moment Bends (2011), and Now + 4eva (2014). The band has been inactive since 2018.
Kevin Lawrence Barnes is an American musician who is the singer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter for the indie rock group of Montreal, part of the Elephant 6 Collective. Barnes started the band and, although providing several stories as to the origin of the name, is said to have named it after a failed romance with a woman from Montreal. The group has recorded 18 full-length albums, and numerous EPs and 7" singles. Barnes' brother, David, is an artist and has designed most of the band's artwork for albums since the release of The Gay Parade.
Saturday Looks Good to Me is an American experimental indie pop band that formed in 1999. The group is led by singer-songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Fred Thomas. Albums by the group are known for soundscapes which hearken back to Detroit soul.
Polyvinyl Record Co. is an American independent record label headquartered in Champaign, Illinois. The label also has satellite offices in New York, Austin, and the Bay Area. Polyvinyl has put out over 400 releases to date.
Justin Pearson is an American musician and record label owner, known for being the vocalist and bassist in a number of San Diego–based noise rock, punk and grindcore bands, as well as running his record label Three One G Records. Starting off in the punk outfit Struggle in 1994, ensuing projects such as Swing Kids, The Locust, Dead Cross and Retox. He has collaborated with Kool Keith, Gabe Serbian, Karen O, Nick Zinner, Adam Gnade, Invisibl Skratch Piklz, Asia Argento, The Bloody Beetroots, Silent, among many others.
"Maps" is a song by American indie rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs from their debut full-length album, Fever to Tell (2003). The song is about the relationship between Liars frontman Angus Andrew and Yeah Yeah Yeahs lead singer Karen O. Released in September 2003, the song reached number nine on the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and number 26 in the United Kingdom. The band performed the song at the 2003 MTV Movie Awards, and the music video received extensive play on MTV.
Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? is the eighth album by American indie pop band of Montreal, released on January 7, 2007. The album was written, performed, and recorded by Kevin Barnes, with assistance from friends and family: prominent Elephant Six members Bryan Poole, Jamey Huggins and Heather McIntosh, as well as Barnes' wife Nina Grottland, credited as Nina Twin, and daughter Alabee Barnes, credited as Alabee Blonde. Credits also feature Georgie Fruit, a glam rock alter ego of Barnes.
Icons, Abstract Thee is an EP from indie pop band of Montreal. It was released January 23, 2007, along with the album Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? and the promo CD single "Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse". It is a collection of songs from recent singles, bonus tracks from the vinyl edition of Hissing Fauna, and a song that was put up on the band's Myspace page.
Skeletal Lamping is the ninth studio album by Athens, Georgia-based band of Montreal.
Andrew Wells VanWyngarden is an American musician. He is the lead vocalist, guitar player and songwriter for the band MGMT, praised for "an uncanny knack for producing pop music that sounds as if it were filtered through a kaleidoscope." One of his songs, "Kids", received a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals, while the duo was nominated in the Best New Artist category.
Japandroids were a Canadian rock duo from Vancouver, British Columbia, formed in 2006. The band consisted of Brian King and David Prowse.
False Priest is the tenth full-length studio album by indie-pop group of Montreal, released on September 14, 2010 by Polyvinyl Records on CD, digital, and 180-gram vinyl in both red and black. In addition, Joyful Noise Recordings released a limited-edition cassette version of the album, making False Priest the first of Montreal album ever released on cassette.
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.
"The House That Heaven Built" is the fourth 7" single by Canadian rock duo Japandroids. It was released by Polyvinyl Record Co. on May 15, 2012. The initial pressing is limited to 2000 copies on clear vinyl. The song is the first single from Japandroids' second album Celebration Rock.
Lousy with Sylvianbriar is the twelfth studio album by indie rock band of Montreal. It was released on 8 October 2013. It was recorded at Sunlandic Studios. All songs were engineered by Drew Vandenberg except "Raindrop In My Skull" and "Colossus" done by Kevin Barnes.
"Devil Pray" is a song recorded by American singer and songwriter Madonna for her thirteenth studio album, Rebel Heart (2015). It was written and produced by Madonna, Avicii, DJ Dahi, and Michael Diamond (BloodPop), with additional writing by Arash Pournouri, Carl Falk, Rami Yacoub, and Savan Kotecha. During the early stages of the album, Madonna was encouraged by her manager to work with Avicii and his team of songwriters. Together, they worked on seven songs and "Devil Pray" was composed after Madonna desired to talk about her experiences with drugs and quest for spirituality. Lyrically, the song deals with themes of drug addiction, sin, temptation, and the desire for salvation.
The following is a list of releases by Polyvinyl Record Co. Polyvinyl Record Co. was established in 1995 and has since put out more than 350 records.
"Fuh You" is a song by English musician Paul McCartney that was released as the second single from the album Egypt Station on 15 August 2018.