Deerhunter
Microcastle / Weird Era Continued
Kranky

Earlier this year frontman Bradford Cox revealed his poppier side with a release as Atlas Sound. Split into two discs, the Microcastle half of this release seems to follow what was established on the Atlas Sound record. Weird Era Continued, however, is a more natural progression, falling somewhere between the noise of Cryptograms and Atlas Sound’s more melodic slant. The mildly nihilistic tone of Microcastle sees a shimmering instrumental opener give way to “Agoraphobia”, in which Cox sings plaintively about a desire to be imprisoned. Conversely, Weird  opens with the rather sleek and Interpol-like “Backspace Century” before shifting into the very catchy “Operation”. Instrumentals like ”Weird Era” and “Slow Swords” return to the droning soundscapes of Cryptograms but are more engaging. Whether this release is to be interpreted as a double album or two single albums packaged together is ambiguous, though the albums are linked by a sharing of the song ”Calvary Scars”; on Microcastle as a brief interlude, and as a powerful ten-minute finale on Weird. It does feel a lot like the Bradford Cox Show and Microcastle especially is hard to differentiate from Atlas Sound, but nonetheless Deerhunter have released two consistently excellent albums here. Bow down, peasants: Deerhunter are indie rock royalty.

Tags: deerhunter, new noise