After a somewhat lengthy hiatus, this Claptrapper is back on the beat. I feel a little guilty for not writing during this period off, as there have been so many great album releases. 2010 has been an incredible year for music makers -- especially within the past five months or so. New albums from The National, LCD Soundsystem, Arcade Fire, and The Walkmen will all most certainly be battling for my top 5 albums of the year. But I wasn't all that surprised that I would like those albums -- after all, those are some of my favorite bands around right now.
However, one album I recently came across that has surprised me a great deal is Deerhunter's new album -- Halcyon Digest. I'm not all that familiar with Deerhunter, but I have listened to their previous effort -- Microcastle -- and definitely enjoyed it. But nothing like this new album.
A halcyon is a bird that in ancient legend would nest around the winter solstice to calm the waves of the sea. This is a fitting image for this album, as a lot of the songs' lyrics deal with darkness and sleep, and the album as a whole has a very dark, foggy feel to it. The lyrics also are heavily influenced with themes of aging, and looking at and analyzing life in general. In the outstanding closing song, "He Would Have Laughed," Bradford Cox sings, "I get bored as I get older. Can you help me figure this out?"
The album opens almost sleepily with the song "Earthquake." It's slower and not my favorite track, but I think it's a good opener and sets the tone for the remainder of songs. After "Earthquake," it's pretty much 10 straight very solid songs. Songs that stick out for me are "Revival," "Desire Lines," and the aforementioned "He Would Have Laughed" (especially the last couple minutes of the song).
Pick up this album; you won't be disappointed! (And thanks to fellow Trapper, $G.00 for recommending this album to me.)
Monday, October 11, 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
It's sort of a yawn, but a very enjoyable one. A lot of the tracks OD points out are solid, but am especially partial to Helicopter. Outside of that I'm sort of indifferent, maybe I need a little more listening time, or maybe I have a pulse. On the sliding scale I'll give it 3 yawns and 2 claps.
ReplyDeleteReally need to listen to a few more times but like where it's going. Very raw, un-produced sound. I do have to say though, "Desire Lines" sound a bit like Arcade Fire.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the main riff in Desire Lines does sound like the AF song "Rebellion (Lies)" for sure.
ReplyDelete