Deerhunter deftly avoids a one track state of mind on Monomania

Atlanta indie rockers Deerhunter have reached the apex of an arc they have traveled since the beginning of their career. Each subsequent release has trended toward cleaning up their sound and crafting shorter, more tightly constructed tunes, which culminated with their breakout 2010 effort, Halcyon Digest. So after riding that rail as far as it can go, what's next?

There is the temptation to pull an Animal Collective, who veered sharply back toward their old school sound on the followup to their watershed album Merriweather Post Pavilion. But Deerhunter's response has been far more intricate. Their new album, Monomania, maintains the sharp focus demonstrated on Halcyon Digest while confidently displaying a messier, less frilly, and more free spirited sound. The result is a record that's much more challenging than its predecessor, and ultimately more rewarding.

Frontman Bradford Cox has drawn from some new influences to give rise to an abrasive, rough around the edges sound. As he attested in a Pitchfork feature article, Monomania draws inspiration from the likes of Hank Williams, John Lee Hooker, and Bo Diddley. If you're a fan of those artists but don't have much background with Deerhunter you likely won't see much resemblance. However, looking at it through Deerhunter lenses reveals a much more swashbuckling and swaggering sound than we've seen from this band thus yet. More than ever Cox is becoming a lightning rod as frontman, and is proving to be a fascinating one at that. On several songs here he fashions himself as a transient figure -- a wandering vagabond who is caught in the moment of not knowing what he wants to do, but knows he hasn't found it yet.

This manifests itself best in Monomania's traveling songs, the most enamoring of which is "Pensacola." The song, about hopping a bus to Pensacola, boasts a southern rock vibe with its crunching, rollicking guitar riff. Cox certainly comes across as down on his luck: among his problems is the fact that his woman just ran off with another nan, and with nothing particularly holding him down he's just looking to move on. The theme continues on the next track, "Dream Captain." Once again he seems pretty bummed out, mentioning that he has no one to take care of him. So he urges the ship captain to take him away. He realizes the stark nature of his situation while still hoping for the future, wondering if he can find his place on board the deck of the company ship.

Most convincingly, the band even prove they are capable of conjuring this sense of desolation without always riding the woe is me vibe. Album opener "Neon Junkyard" sounds like a postcard sent from the edge of nowhere; with its dusty desolate backdrop, it's not hard to imagine Cox wading through a wasteland of bright lights and faded streetsigns.

At times, the band pushes their sonic intensity even farther up the Richter scale. "Leather Jacket II" is bolstered by an instantly recognizable wailing guitar riff. Cox's indiscernible vocal fades in and out of the muddled mix like a broken transistor radio, while guitarist Lockett Pundt lights it up with a headbanging riff that demonstrates a bonafide sense of groove. But even that can't hold a candle to the album's title track, easily the craziest song in the set. It builds up briskly, exploding in a churning maelstrom as Cox repeatedly shouts the song's title phrase over an inferno of fuzz, clashing guitars, and tortured shrieking solos. It ends with the distant ragged buzzing of a weedeater motor.

Then, of course, there are the more subdued, shoegazey pieces that Deerhunter are well known for. Tracks like "The Missing" and "T.H.M." are mellow dream coated pieces that easily could have fit on Halcyon Digest or perhaps Microcastle. "Sleepwalking," in particular, displays a hypnotizing Interpol inspired closing coda, something that could also be said about "Desire Lines" from Halcyon Digest. These songs are well done and capture the spirit of what Deerhunter have been doing for a long time, but they are typically the most straightforward of the selections here and therefore the least interesting.

Already one of the more unique bands inhabiting the blogoverse, Deerhunter have proven they had only begun to push the limits of their intoxicating sound. Monomania contains their most nuanced, fertile, and mature writing to date. Most encouraging, they pull off the tricky task of staying true to their roots without floating in the nebulous broth that dragged down their early material. As far as Cox goes, he's made a stunning transition following his string of solo/Atlas Sound records; his voice was once a small brick in their wall of hazy sound, and now he has emerged as a dynamic and relatable frontman. The themes of travel, transience, and being down on your luck are sure to appeal to any young person living through a roughspun and ramshackle existence. No matter whether you're scraping by today or bear memories of doing it long ago, Cox and crew have concocted a brew that is soul affirming, and incredibly, incredibly affecting.

Score: 93/100
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Related Review: Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest 

Deerhunter delivers dreamy art pop with Halcyon Digest.

Genre: Indie Rock
4AD
Running Time: 46:03

Atlanta's Deerhunter has been making quite the name for themselves over the past several years. They generated shockwaves with 2008's Microcastle, but may have just had its finest moment yet with the recent release of their fourth LP, Halcyon Digest.

I'll admit, I had a hard time with this album at first. I saw Pitchfork giving it rave reviews, which drew my attention. But the vocals sounded strange and the music itself wasn't really doing anything for me.

Then I hopped on Youtube and listened to "Earthquake" and the melodies suddenly started to make sense. I was taken in by the fuzzy guitar/synthesizer sound that keeps fading in and out, like waves crashing on the sea.

This could be a somewhat challenging record for some listeners, because their sound is so unique. But this is what makes Halcyon Digest one of the greatest records of 2010.

Halcyon Digest is a very dreamy, spaced out record. But the use of melody is the main strength of the album; they're very mellow but haunting at the same time. I find it to be the perfect album to put on early in the morning when you just get out of bed and you're still trying to wake up.

I greatly admire the aesthetic of Halcyon Digest; it is a very atmospheric album. But it's also much more than that. Listen to the strums of the guitar in the opening of "Helicopter." They have a true pop sensibility to them. The rest of the song floats on at a midsummer night's pace; you can close your eyes and imagine floating in the ocean.

Bradford Cox's vocals are often awash in distortion, but this just adds to the dreamy effect of the album. Most of the tracks are pretty heavily melody driven. Every now and then you might find a really spacey track, but at their surface most of the songs are solid pop rock nuggets that stand on solid songwriting.

Two prime examples of this are "Don't Cry" and "Revival," which propels the album along after the bands comes back down from the sonic soundscape of "Earthquake."

Then you get "Sailing," which may be the sleepiest and most mellow moment on the album. But it's also utterly brilliant, and provides a nice change of pace from the two previous tracks.

Other highlights include "Desire Lines," which has a pretty extended outro that reminds me of Interpol. "Coronado" supplements its melody with a jazzy saxophone, which makes the track an instant standout.

The lyrics on this album are like short, moody, moving poems. "Revival" speaks of the jubilation of redemption, "Basement Scene" sees Cox struggling to deal with aging and death, and "Sailing" paints a portrait of desolation felt by someone who is all alone.

What defines this album, in the end, is the great sense of indie pop melody derived from the mind of Bradford Cox, along with the dreamy, sweet mellowness that gives Deerhunter its distinctive sound.

Score: 90/100