Image of Deerhunter by Lyndsey Matthews
#10 Microcastle by Deerhunter (Kranky Records)
Some things are better experienced without any preconceptions or foreknowledge. Movies with surprise endings, for instance. I wish I could go back and discover Deerhunter without knowing anything about them. They've been the Pitchforkmedia equivalent of a Drudge-siren for over a year. Extra! Extra! Deerhunter frontman Bradford Cox has Marfan Syndrome! He wears dresses! He posts pictures of little boys on his blog! He keeps a bowel movement diary! He accidentally left his new demos on an unprotected part of his website and it got leaked! This is the kind of attention-seeking that makes me want to stay away from a band.
The reviews of Deerhunter's last album, Cryptograms, didn't really suck me in either. Even the good reviews made a big deal out of the fact that much of the album was instrumental - as much as I like the idea of instrumental rock, it never really holds my interest. And many people didn't really care for their instrumentals, so I thought that Deerhunter was just not my thing. And I wasn't quick to change my mind, even when the buzz around Microcastle began long before its release date. Deerhunter had released the much-loved Fluorescent Grey EP and Bradford Cox had been releasing consistently good music with his solo project Atlas Sound and through his blog.
When it came down to it, two things got me to purchase Microcastle. The first was seeing a short documentary on the making of the album online - I love seeing band's describing their recording process, and the music they were making was really captivating. The second thing was Weird Era Cont., the bonus full-length album that was included with every Microcastle CD. I admit that I love bonus discs and double albums, and the prospect of a whole second CD of music was almost too much to resist. Hearing a few promo tracks on the web confirmed that this was a record worth having.
I still think that Cryptograms would be a chore for me, but Microcastle takes the same ideas and makes them accessible. This time around, the suite of mood pieces in the middle of the album aren't instrumentals, providing more subtle break between the pop-oriented material that starts and finishes the album. The Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine influences are still an important component, but the Youth-ful sonics are used to dress up classic pop melodies. I think that the album would remind me of the 60s girl group sound, even if "Vox Humana" didn't use the famous "Be My Baby" drumbeat. "Never Stops" is one of my favorites on the album, contrasting a chirpy verse melody over plucked guitar with a roaring feedback-laden wordless chorus. This is a great example of where Deerhunter seems to be going, and I anticipate Bradford Cox continuing to develop as an attention-seeking songwriter worth paying attention to.
"Never Stops" by Deerhunter
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