The Antlers are back! Though I'd read about their new album a couple of days back I did not immediately run to youtube to begin listening to the album. Why, you ask. So many reasons:
1. Hospice while brilliant and heartbreaking is not an easy listen. It promises to bring you down and as each song builds on the previous, that promise is one you begin to wish they'd break.
2. I have been going through a dance-y pop-y phase where I do nothing but listen to Madonna's Holiday and bop about the room pretending I have a high ponytail. No, really. I love the song in a completely non ironic way.
3. I am way too depressed. I think this should count twice. Or thrice.
But then today I decided enough was enough, let's not delay the inevitable any longer. And if you're depressed only half way then it's time to go all the way right? And who else to bring you (further) down but these guys? But then as I am listening to Burst Apart something's different. Not off, but different. It's all still very haunting. There's layer over layer over layer of sound. There's some heartbreak but it feels a little like crawling through a tunnel and beginning to love the darkness a little. No I'm not losing my mind. There's something about standing in the middle of where you are, whatever it is you're feeling, standing where it is concentrated and to speak. And so then what you speak is undeniable. While with Hospice I felt like I was sinking into some kind of never ending abyss, Burst Apart feels like the center of an explosion. And I didn't think it was possible, but I'm loving it more.
My ineffective analogy is helped by their album cover which is a beautiful explosion of golden dust? Paint? Light?
1. Hospice while brilliant and heartbreaking is not an easy listen. It promises to bring you down and as each song builds on the previous, that promise is one you begin to wish they'd break.
2. I have been going through a dance-y pop-y phase where I do nothing but listen to Madonna's Holiday and bop about the room pretending I have a high ponytail. No, really. I love the song in a completely non ironic way.
3. I am way too depressed. I think this should count twice. Or thrice.
But then today I decided enough was enough, let's not delay the inevitable any longer. And if you're depressed only half way then it's time to go all the way right? And who else to bring you (further) down but these guys? But then as I am listening to Burst Apart something's different. Not off, but different. It's all still very haunting. There's layer over layer over layer of sound. There's some heartbreak but it feels a little like crawling through a tunnel and beginning to love the darkness a little. No I'm not losing my mind. There's something about standing in the middle of where you are, whatever it is you're feeling, standing where it is concentrated and to speak. And so then what you speak is undeniable. While with Hospice I felt like I was sinking into some kind of never ending abyss, Burst Apart feels like the center of an explosion. And I didn't think it was possible, but I'm loving it more.
My ineffective analogy is helped by their album cover which is a beautiful explosion of golden dust? Paint? Light?
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