Artist: Deerhunter
Title: Microcastle
Label: 4AD
Genre: Indie
Bitrate: 185kbit av.
Time: 00:40:52
Size: 57.98 mb
Rip Date: 2008-10-01
Str Date: 2008-10-27
1. Cover Me (Slowly) 1:21
2. Agoraphobia 3:22
3. Never Stops 3:04
4. Little Kids 4:22
5. Microcastle 3:40
6. Calvary Scars 1:37
7. Green Jacket 2:09
8. Activa 1:49
9. Nothing Ever Happened 5:50
10. Saved By Old Times 3:50
11. Neither Of Us, Uncertainly 5:25
12. Twilight At Carbon Lake 4:23
Release Notes:
Most people recognise the power of a name that fits well. One
should not be surprised at the powerful grinding sounds of a
band called Fuck Buttons, nor should one be quite taken aback
when Casiotone For The Painfully Alone sounds a wee bit
emotional.
But Deerhunter are more subdued than their name suggests. For
example, instead of enjoying the great outdoors, the narrator
of Agoraphobia would rather spend his time in a prison cell.
When you make it to the penultimate track, Neither Of Us,
Uncertainly, you'll realise that the song's title aptly
captures the spirit of Microcastle: Deerhunter are not, as
their name suggest, epic warriors on the killing fields,
rather they are young meek people, awkwardly shuffling past,
trying to grasp at some bit of truth before it slowly,
inevitably floats away.
After a few listens, Microcastle might take hold in your mind
as an indie concerto. Broken into thirds, the album draws you
in with some light pop fare before spilling its guts to you in
a slow, dramatic middle section. But just when it seems the
dark will only get darker, Nothing Ever Happened kicks in with
a throbbing beat and pushes you through the last energetic
stretch of the album.
But back to the beginning - although Agoraphobia sounds
depressing on paper, it turns out to be quite buoyant in the
hands of Deerhunter. The upbeat song introduces the album
proper after the introductory instrumental, Cover Me (Slowly),
grinds to a halt, and it is this sort of tug and pull
construction that gives Microcastle some lasting power. Not
convinced yet? Later on, the title track sloshes by with
singer Bradford Cox barely able to push the words out in time,
but just when you think you're safe in feeling gloomy, the
drums come in and nail it into your skull: suffer through it
and everything will come out fine.
Deerhunter's power doesn't lie in their ability to create fast
and slow songs and to put them next to each other in
succession. Dynamic flourishes are one of the hardest things
to pull off as a band without making it sound cheesy, and
Deerhunter are able to give life to each of their crescendos,
to give inspiration to each of their fading notes.
The sounds on Microcastle form a lush landscape. Ethereal
voices blend into battered guitars and a determined rhythm
section. Tagged as an experimental rock group, that abysmal
chasm of classifications, Deerhunter lean more towards the
ear-to-ear panorama of My Bloody Valentine than the warbled
squawks of Lightning Bolt or the intense jabs of Deerhoof.
Deerhunter, however, manage to steal a portion of each of
those groups, using them to cook up a new recipe of indie
experimental delight.