The Antlers: Burst Apart

The Antlers
Burst Apart
Rating: Grrrr

The Antlers' debut album Hospice was one of the most intimate, haunting records of 2009, a desperate song cycle about the journey through the illness of a child. The songs were simultaneously hushed and widescreen, the lyrics oblique and impressionistic, frequently blunt and always heartbreaking. It was a difficult album to listen to, but one that was impossible to ignore or forget.

Hospice was such a fully formed, almost perfectly paced record, it was difficult to imagine where The Antlers could take their sound. Now a full-fledged trio, their sound still remains shockingly intimate, more due to Peter Silberman's evocative falsetto, however the music is far more urgent and less ambient. Unlike Hospice, here The Antlers aren't afraid for more volume and cacophony. The first song on the album is just a preview of where the band intends to go, featuring a strident beat and twilight guitars and twinkling synths seeking the clouds. "I Don't Want Love," is a shockingly direct song about a masochistic relationship.



"Parenthesis" contains oil can, reverbed drum rolls and heavy waves of guitar feedback.



You can even say The Antlers are practically jaunty on the driving track "Every Night My Teeth Are Falling Out."



"French Exit" has an insistent beat under an impossibly sunny bed of keyboards, contrasting with the bitter lyrics about a dysfunctional relationship:

"Everytime we speak
You are spitting in my mouth
If I don't take you somewhere else
I'm gonna pull my teeth right out."



The Antlers haven't completely forsaken their signature sound. The majority of the tracks are still hushed and eerily quiet.

Silberman's gorgeous falsetto punctuates the lovely winding guitars of "Hounds."



The gorgeous acoustic and treated guitars of "Corsicana," frame an achingly beautiful vocal. The song equating a desperate relationship with being trapped in a burning house.



Which all leads up to the best song on the album, "Putting The Dog To Sleep." The song starting slowly, in almost waltz time, getting more and more frantic as it reaches its climax. Silberman singing to his partner who he thinks doesn't respect relationships enough, crying out "Put your trust in me/I'm not gonna die alone"



I am glad Burst Apart is not just another Hospice, however, this album doesn't quite reach the brilliant heights of that album. Without the storyline of their debut, there is nothing really to connect the songs here; it just becomes a set of beautiful tracks collected together. As it stands, Burst Apart is a really good record just short of being the classic Hospice is.

Rating Guide

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and peaks one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.