Icons, Abstract Thee is an EP from indie pop

Indie pop

Indie pop is a genre of alternative rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the mid 1980s, with its roots in the Scottish post-punk bands on the Postcard Records label in the early '80s, such as Orange Juice, Josef K and Aztec Camera, and the dominant UK independent band of the mid...

 band Of Montreal

Of Montreal

Of Montreal is an American rock band from Athens, Georgia. It was founded by frontman Kevin Barnes in 1996, named after a failed romance with a woman "of Montreal." The band is one of the bands of the Elephant 6 collective...

. It was released May 8, 2007, along with the album Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?

Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?

Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? is the eighth album from indie pop band Of Montreal. It was released January 23, 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...

and the promo CD single

CD single

A CD single is a music single in the form of a standard size Compact Disc, not to be confused with the 3-inch CD single, which uses a smaller form factor. The format was introduced in the mid-1980s, but did not gain its place in the market until the early 1990s...

 "Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse

Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse

"Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse" was 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....

". 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. It can be seen as a bridge between the song "The Past Is a Grotesque Animal" and "Bunny Ain't No Kind of Rider" from Hissing Fauna.

Structure

The first track, "Du Og Meg" (Norwegian

Norwegian language

Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...

 for "you and I"), discusses the manner in which lead singer Kevin Barnes and wife Nina met and courted each other. "Voltaic Crusher/Undrum to Muted Da" is about the quickly fading love between the two, a theme present in Hissing Fauna... and the only theme in "The Past Is a Grotesque Animal".

The second part of the song, "Undrum to Muted Da", is a short instrumental piece tacked on the beginning of the next song, "Derailments in a Place of Our Own". "Derailments" is a solo acoustic performance that details Kevin's deepest depression in the clearest detail out of all songs from the Hissing Fauna sessions. The EP-only track "Miss Blonde Your Papa Is Failing" name checks Kevin's daughter in the title, and is a song explaining the breakup as gently as possible to the young Alabee.

"No Conclusion" is the last song on the EP as well as the longest. It is about the suicidal thoughts harbored by Barnes. By the end of the song, the song has changed from a suicide in a physical sense to a suicide in a metaphysical sense (i.e. going into hiding). On his review published by Pitchfork Media

Pitchfork Media

Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...

, Rob Mitchum stated that "No Conclusion" would "likely end up as one of 2007's finest musical accomplishments".

Track listing

1. "Du Og Meg" – 2:21
2. "Voltaic Crusher/Undrum to Muted Da" – 2:04
3. "Derailments in a Place of Our Own" – 3:03
4. "Miss Blonde Your Papa Is Failing" – 3:55
5. "No Conclusion" – 9:41