Deerhunter – Monomania
In recent years, Deerhunter have shied away from noise in favour of the sort of inconspicuous indie that casual outsiders just don’t get. They view the subtle, shambling vibe as nought save aural wallpaper, yet to plenty of others those same shuffling chords are outright manna. The opening one-two on sixth LP Monomania – a welcome return to the band’s punkier roots – is sure to ruffle a few feathers with both groups then. The echo-y opener, “Neon Junkyard”, tackles the sound by way of dreamy 60s strumming and its gloriously messy follow-up screeches its way through some fun-time garage.
This signature blend of brash noise and killer melody is elsewhere less demanding, rearing its head really only via the out-of-focus distortion which permeates the album as a whole and, more prominently perhaps, on the grimy title track during which Bradford Cox ‘s vocal repeats sting with intensity. It’s this light toasting in production that ultimately differentiates Monomania from 2010’s cleaner Halcyon Digest LP, but, the odd track apart, the band haven’t taken huge sonic strides from one to the other.
Monomania has a warmly reminiscent middle order therefore, which when it hasn’t gone all minimal and reverb-heavy like eels in rock mode (see the sad and lovely “Blue Agent” and “T.H.M.”) is full of ramshackle indie gems akin to those on which its beautiful predecessor was built. Supposedly there’s some synth play at work during the likes of “Dream Captain” and “The Missing” too, but the hypnotic web that Cox and company weave is pleasantly dense to render it – in critical terms – unobtrusive in the mix.
When you’ve got a template that works, you’re often best to roughly stick to it. Deerhunter have a deft one and it always lands a product more than the sum of its parts. Painstaking description of its construct often seems flippant and/or ignorant. So, in the face of such a thankless task, perhaps we better peg Monomania as somehow subliminally sublime and leave it at that so as not to be further incriminated.
Advised downloads: “T.H.M.” and “Monomania”.
~Monomania is released 6th May 2013 on 4AD .~
[sic] review: Deerhunter – Microcastle
[sic] review: Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest