A Year in Records #8: Deerhunter - Microcastle

Deerhunter ain't playing hard to get no more. Before, it was a bit difficult to find the patience to absorb a body of work like Cryptograms, an album that craftily shrouded its charming traces of pop with art-damaged atmospheric interludes. But once you found it, the reward was immense. Now, they're just letting all that melody hang out. The result? Microcastle is, at first glance, glorious. With all the extraneous wildlife noises and reverb patchwork out of the way, Bradford Cox's weird catharsis becomes surprisingly focused, driven towards clarity by the quintet's bright, utilitarian instrumentation. The album's track Nothing Ever Happens has 'first single' stamped all over it with its propulsive drums, eerie hooks, and an extended guitar-solo that's, well, just a good guitar-solo. No strings attached.

The title track is possibly the strongest testament to Deerhunter's melodic prowess: its slippery quietude suddenly bursts forth with a jangly vocal refrain that should never (ever) end. There's a great sense of gratification through and through: they are indulging musical appetites shamelessly and maturely. Hence the glistening simplicity of Agoraphobia, which delicately conjures up sunny mirages and comfy pastels. With Deerhunter, the chase has always been more engaging than the catch. But Microcastle sees to it that the conceptual mood-setting devices that pedestalled the songs of their previous releases have at last become the songs themselves.

Video: Nothing Ever Happened (Live)