Of Montreal - Jennifer Louise

  by Tommy Gunnarsson

published: 8 / 1 / 2003

Label: Track And Field
Format: 7"

intro

Patchy new single from Of Montreal, which serves as "another perfect example of the ups and downs of the Elephant Six-collective"

You are probably beginning to hate me for repeating things over and over again, but here once again is another perfect example of the ups and downs of the Elephant Six-collective. Of Montreal, which is basically the alter ego of Kevin Barnes, have so far released five albums and most of them are packed with both pretty pop songs and also a whole lot of unlistenable crap. Last year, they released their latest effort, 'Aldhis Arboretum', on the Track & Field label in the UK, and after listening to it several times I remember feeling nothing at all. It was neither good or bad. It, therefore didn’t make it to my regular record collection, and found itself stuck away with some other mediocre promotional records that I had received lately. Now Track & Field has decided to release a 7” only single off that album, with the song 'Jennifer Louise' being the A-side. And after listening to it, I must admit that I must have missed that song when listening to the album, because this is pretty good actually. It’s a nice little pop tune, with not a hint of Barnes’ usual tendency to experiment with sound effects and weird tunes. But then I flip the black piece of plastic over and the B-side, 'There Is Nothing Wrong With Hating Rock Critics', is quite the opposite of 'Jennifer Louise'. Well, I wouldn’t call it experimental, but it’s very annoying and I really think it’s a typical B-side song. The press release describes it as “tongue-in-cheek”, but I would rather call it “irritating-as-hell”. But as the A-side is a very good song, I think you should buy it if you like the poppy side Of Montreal, and maybe you could use the B-side to make your own vinyl engravings?

Track Listing:-