Deerhunter - Why Hasn't Everything Already Disappeared?: Review
Deerhunter
are a mid 2000's indie rock band who captured our attention with 2007's Cryptograms and have released a spree of successful projects since that help keep their name a recognizable one on the indie wire. Microcastle, Halcyon Digest and Monomania make up a trio of solid releases where the band embraces the sounds of indie rock without really forwarding them. Even though they make music you can hear from just about anywhere they have done it with consistency. Unfortunately that consistency ran out with 2015's Fading Frontier a seemingly hurried and uninspired follow up that found the band seeming more confused and behind the times than ever before, but after 3 singles of varying interest and success it was hard to pin down where the band would be in their newest full length form.
Review by Lav:
Deerhunter have always been AN indie band, but for me unlike many others they've never been THE indie band. Their music blends together blissful psychadelia with sharp indie guitar works and interesting compositions and the band executes these factors consistently. What Deerhunter has never done for me is set themselves apart from their contemporaries. The songs are loaded with contemporary influences throughout their career that they do a great job replicating but rarely go above and beyond. After their 2015 album Fading Frontier was one of my least favorite of theirs to date I wasn't anticipating a masterpiece by any means.
Why Hasn't Everything Already Disappeared? opens up with the first song we heard from it, last years Death In Midsummer. The song has a heavy grinding rhythm met with an energetic vocal performance that just builds and builds to a fantastic conclusion. Its tempered outro is whats left over for you after the explosive conclusion and not only does a great job tying everything up, but also setting up for the bright explosion into the next track. And with that bombastic intro No One's Sleeping misses its opportunity to build throughout the song and its lingering 4 and a half minute run-time starts to feel like a huge slog when moments get repetitive. Thankfully there is an element of instrumental creativity in its second half outro that redeems the song and helps set it apart from the explosive beginning. The next track is the driving instrumental Greenpoint Gothic a track that glides along some icy key board melodies to a satisfying two minutes of dancier indie rock.
The next portion of the album starts with the 2nd single Deerhunter released Element, which is sadly not a Kendrick Lamar cover. Its a far more psychedelic tune than a rock one unlike the first single, and doesn't mark one of the more interesting points on the album, but it does have a solid tune at its core. This transitions into the even sleepier What Happens To People? a Deerhunter take on dreamy indie pop. The song lacks energy and even though there is a sweet melody and some bouncy keys in the mix it is one of the more forgettable moments. This middle of the album slog extends into one of its most experimental moments, the 3 minute spoken word piece Detournment . It certainly has hints of originality and political motivation but the instrumental is too dry and the distorted words don't do a good job of landing any coherent points, especially in the second half of the song.
The blissful guitar riff that opens up Futurism is a very welcome sound after the mid album slog that has just gone by. The track is an old school bouncy rock and roll track with an unforgettably sticky melody and some drowned out blissful tune singing. It all comes together for a brief but excellent track that was very much needed in its placement at track seven. This dreaminess transitions into Tarnung a song that doesn't do it nearly as much justice. Its pleasant while its on but a very forgettable moment given what it is settled in between and even at a full three minutes feels like a glorified interlude moment.
Next up is the 2 minute Plains the 3rd and most recent single dropped from the album. Its a dancy beach rock tune that doesn't fit with pretty much anything else on the album but its explosion into a blissful and bright chorus. The closer is another one of the more experimental cuts on the project Nocturne. The song opens up with a sullen and slow guitar riff paired with an equally stagnant drum kick and passion driving distorted vocals. It proceeds with a sizeable instrumental gap but around the 4 minute mark is when it really begins to take off as fuzzy effects and some amplified keys start drowning the song out slowly note by note. They seem to pull from cross genre contemporaries in one of the most unique spots on the project that incorporates some sounds that aren't a mainstay to the indie scenes Deerhunter is used to occupying.
On Why Hasn't Everything Disappeared? Deerhunter redeems themselves after a mishap on their last album but fail to eclipse the standard they had set up to that point. The album dives into numerous unique indie rock and psychadelic styles and does so effectively for the most part. A severe lull in the middle of the project is a rough point but there is no denying that it gets off to a very strong start and leaves you on a bright note. Returning to being a consistent indie group but not one that stands out seems in retrospect like the only move Deerhunter could have made and I'm pretty satisfied they made it successfully culminating is a solid project with a handful of tunes I'll be excited to return to, 6.5/10.
Review by Lav:
Deerhunter have always been AN indie band, but for me unlike many others they've never been THE indie band. Their music blends together blissful psychadelia with sharp indie guitar works and interesting compositions and the band executes these factors consistently. What Deerhunter has never done for me is set themselves apart from their contemporaries. The songs are loaded with contemporary influences throughout their career that they do a great job replicating but rarely go above and beyond. After their 2015 album Fading Frontier was one of my least favorite of theirs to date I wasn't anticipating a masterpiece by any means.
Why Hasn't Everything Already Disappeared? opens up with the first song we heard from it, last years Death In Midsummer. The song has a heavy grinding rhythm met with an energetic vocal performance that just builds and builds to a fantastic conclusion. Its tempered outro is whats left over for you after the explosive conclusion and not only does a great job tying everything up, but also setting up for the bright explosion into the next track. And with that bombastic intro No One's Sleeping misses its opportunity to build throughout the song and its lingering 4 and a half minute run-time starts to feel like a huge slog when moments get repetitive. Thankfully there is an element of instrumental creativity in its second half outro that redeems the song and helps set it apart from the explosive beginning. The next track is the driving instrumental Greenpoint Gothic a track that glides along some icy key board melodies to a satisfying two minutes of dancier indie rock.
The next portion of the album starts with the 2nd single Deerhunter released Element, which is sadly not a Kendrick Lamar cover. Its a far more psychedelic tune than a rock one unlike the first single, and doesn't mark one of the more interesting points on the album, but it does have a solid tune at its core. This transitions into the even sleepier What Happens To People? a Deerhunter take on dreamy indie pop. The song lacks energy and even though there is a sweet melody and some bouncy keys in the mix it is one of the more forgettable moments. This middle of the album slog extends into one of its most experimental moments, the 3 minute spoken word piece Detournment . It certainly has hints of originality and political motivation but the instrumental is too dry and the distorted words don't do a good job of landing any coherent points, especially in the second half of the song.
The blissful guitar riff that opens up Futurism is a very welcome sound after the mid album slog that has just gone by. The track is an old school bouncy rock and roll track with an unforgettably sticky melody and some drowned out blissful tune singing. It all comes together for a brief but excellent track that was very much needed in its placement at track seven. This dreaminess transitions into Tarnung a song that doesn't do it nearly as much justice. Its pleasant while its on but a very forgettable moment given what it is settled in between and even at a full three minutes feels like a glorified interlude moment.
Next up is the 2 minute Plains the 3rd and most recent single dropped from the album. Its a dancy beach rock tune that doesn't fit with pretty much anything else on the album but its explosion into a blissful and bright chorus. The closer is another one of the more experimental cuts on the project Nocturne. The song opens up with a sullen and slow guitar riff paired with an equally stagnant drum kick and passion driving distorted vocals. It proceeds with a sizeable instrumental gap but around the 4 minute mark is when it really begins to take off as fuzzy effects and some amplified keys start drowning the song out slowly note by note. They seem to pull from cross genre contemporaries in one of the most unique spots on the project that incorporates some sounds that aren't a mainstay to the indie scenes Deerhunter is used to occupying.
On Why Hasn't Everything Disappeared? Deerhunter redeems themselves after a mishap on their last album but fail to eclipse the standard they had set up to that point. The album dives into numerous unique indie rock and psychadelic styles and does so effectively for the most part. A severe lull in the middle of the project is a rough point but there is no denying that it gets off to a very strong start and leaves you on a bright note. Returning to being a consistent indie group but not one that stands out seems in retrospect like the only move Deerhunter could have made and I'm pretty satisfied they made it successfully culminating is a solid project with a handful of tunes I'll be excited to return to, 6.5/10.
