ARTICLE: Deerhunter 2 | http://groovemine.com

GOOD EYE, SNIPER:
A Year in the Music Life of Deerhunter
TEXT: Joseph Visconti /// PHOTO: Hisham Bharoocha

With Deerhunter, you’ve got to address a couple of things from the get-go. They are always releasing something, whether it’s a single or tracks they’ve remixed or a whole darn record (check out their blog here). They are also down with all kinds of sounds. The stylistic epithet “ambient punk” can describe a whole slew of things about the band, from singer/ringleader Bradford Cox’s homosexuality and the oldest definition of “punk” to the ambient sound that runs through a good deal of their music. Taken as one term, it can also refer to their refreshingly fearless approach to making music. In the same way that seminal shoegazers like My Bloody Valentine and electronic maestro Brian Eno manipulate their instruments to a specific effect beyond its initial use, so, too, do Deerhunter tweaking surf guitars and bolero beats into their brand of mutant garage tunes.

Their last three extended releases spanning a year over 2008-2009, Microcastles, Weird Era Cont, and Rainwater Cassette Exchange all strengthen the argument that Deerhunter are one of the finest indie bands working today. Week-long thunderstorms and fear of open town squares are just pieces of the puzzle in the greater cosmology of the band.

Microcastles
LABEL: Kranky / 4AD

“That track could be the thesis statement of the band’s sonic oeuvre, using a simple rhythmic riff with all the right toppings, as well as working as a testament to cheap whiskey.”

Deerhunter - Microcastles Deerhunter have a lot of music to share. So much so that they diversify their blog with tracks from each other’s solo projects. Atlas Sound and Lotus Plaza are operated by Bradford Cox and Lockett Pundt, respectively. How delightful, then, to hear these high school buddies work it out together under their main tent on Microcastles. Pundt joined up on guitar after 2005’s Turn It Up Faggot, and here turns to the mic for “Agoraphobia” and the excellently creepy “Neither of Us, Certainly.”

If pop music is a religion, the songs on Microcastle are akin to mysticism. At once familiar and heretical, it’s no wonder that the word “dream” gets thrown in their direction a lot. “Activa” treads such subconscious territory with plunking guitar and bells. When Cox coos “Wasted our lives/We wasted our time” the atmosphere recalls chemical-enhanced summer haze.

When the lilting melodies don’t hold up, the rhythm section of Moses Archuleta (drums) and Josh Fauver (bass) push dynamics as on “Cover Me (Slowly)”. The bluesy “Saved By Old Times” gets into a groove over Victorian vampires. That track could be the thesis statement of the band’s sonic oeuvre, using a simple rhythmic riff with all the right toppings, as well as working as a testament to cheap whiskey. Where appropriate, Deerhunter are not afraid to dredge up such musical tropes as 50s sock hop ballads. They plug into this vibe for the greater part of “Twilight at Carbon Lake” before unleashing the distortion that made the Reid brothers famous. For all their love of experimenting with sound, at the end of the day Deerhunter remember that the song comes first. Microcastles succeeds on that premise.

Weird Era Cont
LABEL: Kranky / 4AD

“No one else sings like Bradford Cox, and no one else’s lyrics can be quite so jarring. You may never be sure what the cassette cathedral in 'Vox Humana' is, but Cox turns it into a fetish object with a childlike and unattainable longing.”

Deerhunter - Weird Era Cont Officially released as a bonus disc with 2008’s Microcastle, Weird Era Cont was really born into controversy before that. After an assiduous fan discovered a hyperlink to Cox’s personal MediaFire folder via the Deerhunter blog, the unmastered album was leaked about a month ahead of schedule. Cox responded with a series of blog posts expressing panic and anger before finally granting that the mistake was his own. Fortunately for us, he didn’t scrap the project altogether (as he threatened in one post).

The OED defines the word ambient as “designating atmospheric sound occurring naturally or at random in a particular environment at a particular time, esp.(unwanted) background noise picked up by a microphone. Also (of recorded sound), engineered in such a way as to create or reproduce a specific acoustic quality.” In adding that prefix to their take on punk, Deerhunter give themselves license to do whatever they want with whatever instruments they can. In style and in content, this is a band that defies labels any more specific than pop. Weird Era Cont is a record that spreads over a wide terrain of emotions, using each sound to create a particular environment at a particular time.

“Vox Celeste” uses guitar fuzz and noise to fill out its sound like an orchestration before flowing seamlessly into the mellow and, yes, ambient “Cicadas.” Lyrical trips into a psychedelic malaise like “Operation” reveal a stroke of haunting depth. When he sings, “Operation/ Cover your ears/ You’re not gonna like what you’re gonna hear,” Cox brings an uneasy fear of medical attention to a stripped-down garage track that the Strokes wish they’d written. No one else sings like Bradford Cox, and no one else’s lyrics can be quite so jarring. You may never be sure what the cassette cathedral in “Vox Humana” is, but Cox turns it into a fetish object with a childlike and unattainable longing.

Weird Era Cont pulls together the threads that Deerhunter have been honing: guitars can churn, vocals can be run through echo chambers, tambourines jangle and Theremins can make it all sound like sci-fi background music in 1954. But it’s the vision of that whole sonic palette which makes those parts come together. In our era’s demand simply for content, sometimes the prolificacy of the band’s releases seems like a lot of filler. But this album is a testament to their ability to put together something solid and personal.

Rainwater Cassette Exchange
LABEL: Kranky / 4AD

On their most recent release, Rainwater Cassette Exchange, Deerhunter expand on their self-described ambient punk sound. Equally comfortable with loopy beats, tape effects and staccato guitar, they revel in the common threads of a good tune. Bradford Cox’s eloquent vocals shine on “Game of Diamonds” and “Famous Last Words”, which takes its narrative from a newspaper account of a young boy being crushed to death under the tires of a car driven by his friend. That sweet melody should come with a ghastly undercurrent is exactly the kind of thing Deerhunter are after. “Disappearing Ink” has the pop sensibility that the band’s sound ultimately works up from, while EP closer “Circulation” uses all of its five minutes to move from driving guitar crunch to spaced-out keyboard and tape-snippet oblivion.