Deerhunter - Microcastle
For their third album in four years the Atlanta quartet have moved started to move away from the aggressive noise rock that characterised their earlier work and live shows to something more conventionally melodic and, dare I say it, almost poppy.
What emerges is a more tightly controlled set of songs, simultaneously less experimental but also less self-indulgent. The bands noisy heritage is still apparent, ‘Never Stops’ is a traditional verse / chorus pop song but sits uneasily on top of a discordant, jarring backing and such harkenings to their roots pervade all the way through.
‘Little Kids’ broods in a droning manner reminiscent of their last album ‘Cryptograms’ but the emotional content sits closer to the surface than anything from that record and this remains true across the whole record. It almost seems as if singer and driving force Bradford Cox has developed the confidence to let the intensely emotive content of his writing stand on its own, without the need to drown it in noisy thrashings.
There’s a melancholy overtone to the album, with death, mortality and frustration at the human condition providing much of the lyrical content, possibly as a result of Cox’s continuing battles with ill health, which gives the record a rare depth.
The album is finely weighted with beautiful slow moments, ‘Green Jacket’, ‘Activa’, balanced by uptempo slices such like ‘Nothing Ever Happened’ (a very big nod in the direction of a certain Mr. Sheilds on this one) and ‘Never Stops’. However, it’s the album’s closer that finally takes the breath right away. ‘Twilight At Carbon Lake’ starts gently, ballad like even, but gradually builds and builds to a maelstrom as if to assure the listener that they’ve still got it, they’re just keeping it on a tighter rein these days.
If this album had been released 20 years ago it would have sat snugly in the Shoegazing cannon, as it comes now we have to consider it as a product of the influences it unashamedly wears on its sleeves, Pixies, My Bloody Valentine et al, but none the less Cox and co have produced a hugely cohesive record with a real feel for the now.
Top Tracks :'Never Stops', 'Nothing Ever Happened', 'Twilight At Carbon Lake'.
Released 27/10/2008 on 4AD