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Deerhunter, Deer Tick, Deerhoof, and The Dears: there sure are enough Bambi-monikered bands in indie rock to make one feel like they are lost in the sticks. But it's easy enough to pick Deerhunter out of the herd: The band's lanky front man Bradford Cox can often be found performing in a dress. Not that there is anything wrong with that, or with the band's intricate spiraling mosaics of noise, sound, and sometimes melody that swirl around thematic confrontation of a deep loneliness.
Cox developed a reputation as much for his prolific recording habits as his hazy and reverb-heavy compositions (he also records as Atlas Sounds and posts his handy-work almost-too-regularly on his blog), alongside bandmates Moses Archuleta, Lockett Pundt, Joshua Fauver, and Whitney Petty. The band's early work is ambient and jarring, but has grown closer to melodic in successive releases, be they legitimate and heralded like 2007's Cryptograms, or the limited edition cassettes and wax released in short supply and distributed almost secretly in select Athens locations.
Deerhunter's newest proper LP, "Microcastle" is their most focused release yet. It employs a higher ratio of pop maneuvers to art-rock than ever before, along with more complete and complex narratives. The songs explore murder and isolation, sacrifice and anxiety while crumpling less often into an abyss of noise. Sometimes the band even threatens to forage into something like rock anthems. Live sets from Deerhunter are said to be equal parts meditation and science experiment, as Cox negotiates his dual penchants for atmospheric repetitions and explosive spectacle. BRIAN CONANT
