Brooklyn’s The Antlers played a “homecoming show” at Mercury Lounge last night, and I stupidly picked that one instead of the one they’re playing at Music Hall of Williamsburg on April 7; that venue’s sure to be a much better fit for their music. It was my first time seeing them anyhow. The drums were crisp and strong and mic’d so that you could hear every little thing, which meant that certain patterns on the bass side made certain things in the room tremble sometimes. Peter Silberman has a beautiful voice, classifiable in the Jeff Buckley family of voices, even though there were a ton of things laid upon that voice and I would love to hear it unadulterated at some point, unaccompanied by anything else. The range of sounds produced by three men was quite wide, mainly owing to the keys section, which featured handy legwork on the Roland PK5. The only thing is that I have limited capacity for music that feels like every turn of the corner features a climax, but I suppose it’s healthy in moderate amounts.
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Download “Bear“
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The Antlers are self-releasing their album, Hospice, on March 3, and playing a record release show with guest performers at Union Hall on March 5th. To be entered to win two tickets, write to hoovesontheturf [at] gmail [dot] com about what you think of the song, “Bear”, posted below. Deadline is March 3, Tuesday, 4pm, and a winner will be picked using a top secret, super magical, out of this world algorithm. [Photo by Bryan Bruchman]
For a band out of Brooklyn, Hospice has an unlikely climate: a good deal of it sounds like it’s been weathered by clouds that are always a dull grey and winters that are especially long; not the kind of sullenness that’s too forthcoming, not like Antony and the Johnsons, but a sort of disinterested calm you’d think would creep from underneath cool shadows. Kind of like Sigur Ros in English, with far less yelling. When fellow Brooklynite Sharon van Etten* makes a brief (yet awesome) appearance in “Thirteen”, though, the sulks get fiery and warm again, and you recognize it right away. “Hand-assembled” copies of Hospice can be pre-ordered from the band’s website.
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Download “Bear“
Websites: The Antlers Myspace, The Antlers Official
*I’ve yet to see the liner notes, but I’d be pretty damn surprised if that isn’t her.
[UPDATE: Winner has been picked (using aforementioned super machine) and notified, thanks so much for playing]
