Since its 2005 debut, Deerhunter has quickly risen to the top of the indie scene. Its string of consistently lauded albums has seen the band shifting from punk to shoegaze and ambient electronic genres. Deerhunter's latest, "Halcyon Digest," is the ultimate synthesis of these explorations. Whatever rough edges and incongruities were present on earlier releases have been ironed out for this album. "Halcyon Digest" is Deerhunter operating at the top of its game.
In interviews leading up to the album's release, lead singer Brian Cox stated that "Halcyon Digest" is about the ways every person alters his own memories to make them more pleasant. For all the abstraction of this, Cox and the rest of the band do an excellent job of capturing a sad sense of nostalgia.
The album opens dreamily with "Earthquake." Slow reversed percussion and distant guitar arpeggios underpin Cox's soft−spoken delivery. Deerhunter's use of reverb and distortion effects is often hypnotic, inviting the listener back into his or her own memories. Despite the emphasis on noise−rock in its music, Deerhunter has never sounded imprecise or heavy−handed. The distorted segments of "Earthquake" pair perfectly with the song's more structured sounds.
After its ethereal opener, "Halcyon Digest" moves into more indie territory. "Earthquake" is followed by "Don't Cry," a much more upbeat tune. The gentle reverb on Cox's voice and his rockabilly delivery give the whole song a playfully anachronistic edge. "Revival" plays on a similar dynamic, with punchy, rhythmic guitar strumming and a toe−tapping groove. Deerhunter wisely follows these two songs with the gloomier "Sailing." Though the song only consists of Cox's voice and simple guitar strums, the ambient layer of noise beneath the playing gives the song an unsettling, deep−running atmosphere that perfectly compliments the joviality of the two preceding tracks.
Deerhunter follows this dynamic for a good portion of the album, alternating darker− and lighter−sounding songs to create a well−balanced listening experience.
"Halcyon Digest" never feels like it dwells on one idea or aesthetic. Unlike many shoegaze bands that base their whole sound around a few key aesthetic choices, Deerhunter has proven itself far more flexible. The production of the album is a huge part of Deerhunter's versatility: "Helicopter" wouldn't be as affecting without the impressionistic, blooming background textures. However, the album is just as capable of producing punchy, precise sounds. The punctual bass and drum work on "Coronado" sounds just as natural as the band's more drone−based pieces.
"Halcyon Digest" plays as solidly as any album Deerhunter has released in the last few years. There isn't a single mediocre song. The moods and textures are always shifting but never work toward a common high or low point. Some people might prefer a more conventional arc with discernible climaxes and releases to the album's flow, although such a view seems to gloss over Deerhunter's goal for the album.
"Halcyon Digest" isn't content to bring its listener on a little trip and take him or her safely home. The songs take you out and leave you adrift.
The end of the album's concluding song, "He Would Have Laughed," leaves the listener in much the same place as the opening of "Earthquake." This cyclical dynamic emphasizes the dreaminess of "Halcyon Digest" and gives more credibility to the album's premise. The album feeds back into itself beautifully, much in the same way as great records, like Radiohead's "In Rainbows" (2008) or Animal Collective's "Merriweather Post Pavillion" (2009), do.
"Halcyon Digest" exceeds these albums in the strength of its core sound and the sincerity of its purpose, leaving the listener with as satisfying a listen as they'll find in the indie genre.
