The Antlers: Undersea

After listening to Hospice the first time, I thought The Antlers were a revelation.  It was chilling, depressing, cathartic, and catchy all at the same time.  The album takes you through the experiences of a caregiver at a hospice who tends to a loved one dying of cancer, and it's absolutely devastating.

So, with that kind of track record, I preordered their second album, Burst Apart.  And while it had some high moments ("Parentheses" is a cool groove, "Putting The Dog To Sleep" has a sweet and honest message, and "Every Night My Teeth Are Falling Out" is the strongest song on the whole album), it was somewhat of a letdown.  I figured that I would wait for reviews for the next album, Undersea, instead of blindly preordering it on faith (I had bad luck with preorders last year, having also bought Radiohead's The King of Limbs and Lupe Fiasco's Lasers sight-unseen).

Well, since I had "liked" The Antlers on Facebook (again, on the strength of Hospice), they sent me a notification that Undersea was available for streaming on their Facebook page (hopefully that link will work for all of you).  I had some homework to do last night, so I figured I would put it on, and see if they had returned to form.

In three words:  They did not.

It's as though the guys thought that "Rolled Together" was the high point of Burst Apart, and decided to craft the entire album in the same style.  It's aggressively boring.  I know this because, at one point, the droning and monotony actually drew me out of my precalculus, and made me angry that I was listening to it.  But the rest of the album was so unremarkable that it apparently started over while I was working, and I had listened to two-thirds of the album for a second time, without realizing it.

Antlers, you're not Radiohead.  You will never produce a Kid A, so go back to using guitars and being catchy and cathartic.  You can write about different topics; lord knows I wouldn't want you to have to go through something similar to whatever inspired Hospice for a second time, just to give me another classic album.  Just get back to writing great music.  The rest will fall into place.

On a brighter note, I've heard some of The Mountain Goats' new stuff, and it is excellent.