Ye, Renew the Plaintiff

Of Montreal's eleventh album, Paralytic Stalks, finds mainman Kevin Barnes writing lyrics in a dark confessional style. Speaking with NME he explained: "Paralytic Stalks is different from my previous few albums, in that none of the songs were written from the perspective of a persona, all of the songs are directly inspired by my personal life and my psychic/emotional/spiritual state. I was going through a really fu--ed up period of mental anguish, pessimism and self-hatred, and these songs helped me navigate through it, in a sense. I attempted to use the creative process as a way to direct all of the negative energy into something more positive and salubrious."

Barnes married graphic artist Nina Aimee Grøttland in 2003, and this song finds him attempting to unburden himself to her: "Oh Nina, how can I defend myself against this world?" he cries. Nina inspired (and collaborated on) many Of Montreal songs, as Barnes often examined their relationship in his lyrics. They split up around 2006, reconciled, and broke apart again sometime after the Paralytic Stalks album was released.