Deerhunter
Cryptograms
Fluorescent Grey
When the
lead singer of Deerhunter, Bradford Cox, was in his early 20's and the initial
stages of this band, his best friend died in a freak skate boarding
accident. This, along with a past of sickness due to Marfans Syndrome and
a history with child prostitution, sent him into a deep spiraling
depression. It is a curse/blessing that has made Bradford very fragile emotionally, yet has
taught him to look at the world with a brevity and depth so unusual,
fascinating and raw. Each haunting lyric or part or note in his songs is
followed by an insane faith in their ability to turn to beauty.
In a way, with Cryptograms, he makes that clear through the case of a whole
album. It starts as a coarsely beautiful opus to ambient sound. Screeching,
throbbing, soaring and flowing as one tangled mess into its final stage as an
inspired pop music landmark. In "spring hall convert",
Bradford truly makes his presence known for the first time dreaming softly
and effortlessly about how he woke up with two girls on the beach from way
back when, where he saw the sun rays and ocean consume him with radiation
(or something like that). All this while a simple four note
progression rises into a four chord progression before soaring
into lead guitarist Lockett Pundt's shoegaze reverb drenched
stratosphere; while drummer Moses Archuleta's creates
his unforgettable beat and Bradford chants, wails, coos and
hums "over over over overhead!" in the echo filled
background. This song is made even more soul crushingly awesome by its
follow ups: Deerhunter's ode to the sun and its lead
singer's wacky dream of us all walking into it: "strange
lights", and the fiercely nostalgic and beautiful "hazel st.”;
basking in the beauty and joy of its own loneliness.
Next is this albums four track companion piece, the Fluorescent Grey EP,
released a mere three months after Cryptograms. Fluorescent Grey can be
summed up nicely by a description of its title track. The song
begins with the guitars gently rocking back and forth between chords
and the drums keeping simple snare drum time as Bradford sings, as if trying to lull himself back to sleep: "I woke up in the
middle of the night, I called out, I called your name patiently,
patiently. Why do I dream so often of his body when his body
will decay? His flesh will be fluorescent grey, his flesh will be fluorescent
grey." The song then explodes in a fury of squalling guitars and
wailing robotic voice effects haunting the song with its constant echoes
of the phrase "people never really know", only to slowly lower
itself to its initial calm with Bradford whispering frantically, "patiently patiently..." It's by the most exhilarating song of the year, and by far, its best.
I know this may all sound very depressing and dense but I will assure you to
the contrary. Deerhunter's density is only there for the purpose of your
eternal enjoyment. Every element of their best songs is presented like a
gift with each listen, slowly haunting you like some friendly ghost. And
it's pure, ghost-like spirit is eternally reinforced by the bands wonderful sense
of adventure. Constantly pushing themselves to reinvent their definition
of music. Bradford Cox remains at the forefront of this
"journey" posting over a hundred new tracks, demos, and mixtapes
on the bands blog. Not only is it an amazing gift but a fascinating
history of Bradford's constant evolution
musically. But as a person he’s still just a nerdy kid from Atlanta who used
songwriting to help deal with his pain. And has in turn showed us, or at
least me, that hope isn't something that comes and goes but that is eternally
under our feet. Thanks Bradford! Absolutely
my favorite album of the year! WHOOOOOOO!
P.S.: The
work of bassist Josh Fauver has been neglected in this article for too
long. He is the throbbing and necessary core of every song. His
shit is smooth as glass.
-Andre Harris, 2008
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