Best New Music: Deerhunter "Halcyon Digest"

[Tim-Æ]

Well it's finally here. It's been two years since the double album onslaught of Microcastle/Weird Era Cont. Since then, the band has put together one EP - Rainwater Cassette Exchange - and Bradford Cox has been a solo artist as Atlas Sound dropping one of the best albums of last year. When news first dropped of the album, initially I was skeptic, seeing as how RCE was a bit more poppy than the sprawling noise rock of Microcastle. It was a good move forward no doubt, but I was praying that the band would retain the same electro fuzz sound that I fell in love with.

The first taste of Halcyon Digest came with the reveal of "Revival" a 2 and a half minute punk riff that sounded like a conglomeration of the last two albums and EPs, molded together but then cut in half. Back in April, the band unveiled many of the songs on Halcyon Digest while touring with Spoon, and now here we are, the studio versions, and I have to say that they carried over quite well. "Revival" represents the progression the band has done, and while I hate making comparisons, they are no doubt going to sprout because of how great the previous album was.

While some may have faulted the band for having too much "air space" on Microcastle, this album is for you. It's far tighter together, and that air is thinner. Songs like "Don't Cry" and "Memory Boy" present the bands tightness by showcasing their ability to write 2 minute songs that are blasting and cohesive. It's a far cry from Microastle, and and even further departure from Cryptograms, their highly experimental but still rewarding sophomore album. When compared to those previous efforts, Halycon Digest is by far their most accessible record, which is why I'm no doubt going to push it as hard as possible on you. Unfortunately there's nothing as brilliantly chaotic as "Nothing Ever Happened" here, but there is quite possibly the best song the band has ever written. That's a bold statement I know, but "Helicopter" is brilliant in its own right. The video for it was simple, but the music itself juxtaposed with Cox's vocals is just plain stupendous. It's bold, it's refreshing, and it's all Deerhunter. It's a shorter album, but that's nothing to gripe about, it's just more streamlined for people who don't really care for the "noise" aspect of it.


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