Label - 4AD
BLURB - Deerhunter is quickly becoming a household name among the experimental-indie music community. I even saw them on Conan the other night. The group has been around for quite a while, releasing several acclaimed albums, but it looks like "Halycon Digest" may be their best to date. This record has the depth and space to patiently win over fans, myself included. "Halycon Digest" has an uncanny ability to produce warm, lush tones that contrast with much of the album's dark and interpretive lyrics. With each listen you hear new sounds and effects that make a listening to the album a learning process in itself. You can literally feel your musical taste evolving just by pressing play.
Rating - 9 out of 10
FULL STORY - 'Earthquake' begins the album with random computer drum beats and dark tones as a glowing acoustic guitar riff wanders around the musical abyss. As the song grows and takes shape, clouds of hazy, reverb-tinged synth continue to paint the song with a dark atmosphere. The song takes on a somewhat hopeful personality as with each crashing wave of ominous fuzz and confusion, the initial sparkling guitar riff continues to resurface.
The third track, 'Revival' has a great throwback indie-folk flair to it. The song has the obligatory modern lo-fi production values, but the chord progression is catchy enough to illustrate just how important the underlying songwriting to a track is. 'Revival' may only be two minutes long, but it has a timeless quality to it that makes the song feel both relevant and strangely modern.
'Memory Boy' is much in the same vein of 'Revival' and could be the most pop track on the album. Despite the song's bedrock being an acoustic guitar and a drum beat, the track is stuffed with bright waves of reverb, harmonicas and bells. The track feels incredibly full and large. Phil Spector is somewhere smiling right now listening to 'Revival' and admiring how Deerhunter effectively managed to incorporate so many distinct tones and instruments, with the song remaining remarkably unified.
'Basement Scene' has a charming 60's pop feel that is disguised by the incredibly lo-fi nature of the song. The vocals have a dizzying level of delay that makes the song sound like it was recorded under water. The guitar has a warm yet dark tone that conjures up youthful feelings of unrest and depression which is further complimented by the lyrics:
"Dream a little dream about the basement scene. I don't want to wake up, no. If you've seen the light turn gold, come out tonight. And we'll all get stoned - I don't want to get old."
For me, 'Helicopter' is the absolute stand-out track of "Halycon Digest." The lead guitar riff has a dazzling harpsichord effect that makes it jump through the speakers. Once again floods of hazy reverb permeate the track, mainly during the chorus as a point of emphasis. The vocals on 'Helicopter' are also worthy of note. There is an apathetic sense of defeat in the words that ironically comes off as passionate and enlightened. As each second passes in 'Helipcopter' you find yourself listening more astutely and really trying to throw yourself into the song. Musically, the song appears to have a traditional construction, but Deerhunter varies the vocals so as to never repeat the lyrics from any one chorus - creating a song that plays more like a journal entry than a song:
"My final days in company. The devil now has come for me and helicopters are circling the scene. And I pray for rest. Could you pray for us? We know he loves you the best, we know he loves you the best. The lights inside my cave...I'm tired of my cave. Oh these drugs they play on me these terrible ways. They don't pay like they used to pay. I used to make it day to day."
I really thought I wasn't going to enjoy Deerhunter...aside from hearing a couple of older songs by them, I had only really listened to frontman Bradford Cox's solo efforts (Atlas Sound), which I thought was terrible. But with Deerhunter's "Halycon Digest," there is an incredible amount of diversity to the album that forges past other indie rock releases from this year like The National's "High Violet" and The Arcade Fire's "Suburbs." Deerhunter has a subtle way of infusing color and emotion into their pieces that strangely reminds me of Animal Collective and never seems to get old. Granted some of the songs sound a bit muffled and fuzzy, but the lo-fi recordings provide a credible authenticity to the album, delivering a strong sense of character. "Halycon Digest" plays like a reading of extremely personal diary entries that were written in a dimly lit basement at three in the morning, and so to have the musical components of this album sound like they were recorded in anything but a dark basement, only further enhances the end product.
While some of the album does venture off into some back alleyways and more experimental avenues, the overall collection of songs really flourishes. I think I'd be able to live without the more stagnant and unadventurous tracks like 'Don't Cry' and 'Sailing,' but as a whole, "Halycon Digest" fails to disappoint.
Tracks
1.) Earthquake
2.) Don't Cry
3.) Revival
4.) Sailing
5.) Memory Boy
6.) Desire Lines
7.) Basement Scene
8.) Helicopter
9.) Fountain Stairs
10.) Coronado
11.) He Would Have Laughed
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