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Deerhunter
Microcastle
Review By Matt Conner
For all the fuss (is that buzz?) surrounding Deerhunter, Microcastle sure is boring. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s just hardly the “ambient punk” expected from the Atlanta quintet’s third album. Bradford Cox remains a busy man. His other band, Atlas Sound, delivers his muted side, and it’s easy to see where that project influences Deerhunter’s full band sound. Distortion and drama pervade Microcastle plenty enough for Deerhunter fans, yet too often it’s content to sit in puddles of an uninspiring mess (see “Little Kids” and “Activa”).
The positives here really stand out. That would include tracks such as “Twilight at Carbon Lake,” a dreamy swirl of textures and guitar fuzz that works beautifully. “Agoraphobia” and “Saved By Old Times” feature Atlas’s style and the cleaner sound clearly succeeds. It seems Deerhunter is another release or two away from finding its rhythm and, consequently, its musical home. Still Microcastle remains a solid effort.
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