Deerhunter – Microcastle

Artist: Deerhunter
Title: Microcastle
Country: ATLANTA, USA
Release Date: 2008. Summer
Genre: Experimental / Indie
LABEL: Kranky

这张也是Ninja Charts里我最喜欢的之一，乐队介绍可以随便搜搜，到处都是，中文的还是。乐队自己给自己打的铆是Ambient Punk，我认为，自己一下儿就把自己归到什么什么类里的这种做法，有点儿der，或者说很朴实。事实上在这张里，也能听到，他们把好多当下流行的元素，齐了喀嚓全都擩你耳朵里了，也不怕让人听着闹心，你当是张曼玉哪，擩给谁谁乐三天。

还好，这么多东西，真有很耐听的，而且还是在我第一次顺着听Ninja Charts里每一张的时候就发现了的。很妙哈！

01 Intro
02 Agoraphobia
03 Never Stops
04 Little Kids
05 Microcastle
06 Calvary Scars
07 Green Jacket
08 Activa
09 Nothing Ever Happened
10 Saved By Old Times
11 These Hands
12 Twilight At Carbon Lake

Most people recognise the power of a name that fits well. One should not be surprised at the powerful grinding sounds of a band called Fuck Buttons, nor should one be quite taken aback when Casiotone For The Painfully Alone sounds a wee bit emotional.

But Deerhunter are more subdued than their name suggests. For example, instead of enjoying the great outdoors, the narrator of Agoraphobia would rather spend his time in a prison cell. When you make it to the penultimate track, Neither Of Us, Uncertainly, you’ll realise that the song’s title aptly captures the spirit of Microcastle: Deerhunter are not, as their name suggest, epic warriors on the killing fields, rather they are young meek people, awkwardly shuffling past, trying to grasp at some bit of truth before it slowly, inevitably floats away.

After a few listens, Microcastle might take hold in your mind as an indie concerto. Broken into thirds, the album draws you in with some light pop fare before spilling its guts to you in a slow, dramatic middle section. But just when it seems the dark will only get darker, Nothing Ever Happened kicks in with a throbbing beat and pushes you through the last energetic stretch of the album.

But back to the beginning – although Agoraphobia sounds depressing on paper, it turns out to be quite buoyant in the hands of Deerhunter. The upbeat song introduces the album proper after the introductory instrumental, Cover Me (Slowly), grinds to a halt, and it is this sort of tug and pull construction that gives Microcastle some lasting power. Not convinced yet? Later on, the title track sloshes by with singer Bradford Cox barely able to push the words out in time, but just when you think you’re safe in feeling gloomy, the drums come in and nail it into your skull: suffer through it and everything will come out fine.

Deerhunter’s power doesn’t lie in their ability to create fast and slow songs and to put them next to each other in succession. Dynamic flourishes are one of the hardest things to pull off as a band without making it sound cheesy, and Deerhunter are able to give life to each of their crescendos, to give inspiration to each of their fading notes.

The sounds on Microcastle form a lush landscape. Ethereal voices blend into battered guitars and a determined rhythm section. Tagged as an experimental rock group, that abysmal chasm of classifications, Deerhunter lean more towards the ear-to-ear panorama of My Bloody Valentine than the warbled squawks of Lightning Bolt or the intense jabs of Deerhoof. Deerhunter, however, manage to steal a portion of each of those groups, using them to cook up a new recipe of indie experimental delight.