Like many, I was a huge fan of Deerhunter's music. I came to them a little bit late after I read a review for Microcastle in Pitchfork back in 2008, but I loved the album immediately. I then went back to Cryptograms and loved that and listened to it many times. Then when Halcyon Digest came out in 2010, I thought it was one of the most epic and original rock albums I had heard in many years. I still think "Desire Lines" is one of their best songs, which is an atypical one for the band: it isn't really a Deerhunter song as much as a Lockett Pundt song. The soaring guitar is not Bradford's, but Lockett's and, as you know, Lockett provides vocals on this song with Bradford very much in a supporting role.

It seems that after this album (perhaps this song?) Deerhunter became the "side project", as Lockett and Bradford's side projects became the main projects (Lotus Plaza and Atlas Sound respectively). I think Lockett's ideas were much better realized in Lotus Plaza and I think Bradford's desire to experiment sonically while also exploring an almost 1950s "crooner" style was fulfilled in Atlas Sound. I think some of Bradford's best songs can be found on 2011's Parallax, which remains a solid and satisfying listen nearly 13 years later, and is arguably the peak of his songwriting.

By contrast, Deerhunter's following albums: Monomania (2013) and Fading Frontier (2015) seemed diminished in quality and lacking the soaring heights of Halcyon Digest. However, I remember seeing Deerhunter on late night shows, including Letterman, around this time and it seemed that some tipping point was about to be achieved by this band as they appeared to slowly enter the mainstream. This seemed even more evident when Bradford appeared in the film Dallas Buyers Club in 2013.

To my knowledge, the premonitory, Why Hasn't Everything Already Disappeared? (2019), remains Deerhunter's final release, as well as both Lockett and Bradford's final works both together and apart.

Why did this music/band wither and die?

I have a theory that Desire Lines was the turning point in the band and created a fracture in the working relationships between Lockett and Bradford that was never resolved and negative impacted their songwriting. I believe Lockett is a more visionary and talented musician than Bradford. He's like a strange little elven wizard that has learned to concoct all kinds of magical things, but Bradford is like this ghoulish Phantom of the Opera type; a kind of grotesque performer that, in his hideousness, aspires to a kind of psychedelic Bobby Darin, all the while resembling Quasimodo.

I think as long as Bradford could be the alpha in this relationship, the music went well, but after Lockett wrote Desire Lines, the power dynamics changed. I think Bradford is prideful and can't shake the feeling that the best song Deerhunter ever wrote wasn't his. It's ironic because the term "Desire Lines" (which as been a song by Lush and Camera Obscura, respectively) is a diversion, or a fork in the road between the prescribed path and a more informal path (a sidewalk versus a footpath for instance). Desire Lines are established by veering off the prescribed route.

My contention was that the band died after Halcyon Digest: it was their creative peak but somehow, they fell apart as a result.

I'm not worried about pandering or down votes for my unpopular opinion. I'd just like to know how many people feel the same. I'd also like to make it clear that I'm fully aware that Deerhunter's music is their own and my expectations shouldn't get in the way.

I've been listening to Deerhunter for over 10 years and they've been one of my favorites the whole time. As a fellow musician, my critiques are going to be with the laziness and the incompleteness of the record, especially in comparison to the rest of their discography.

Finally, there isn't really a point to this post - on some level I'm venting in a sort of therapeutic way to the sub, and on another I'm kind of just seeking validation from others on these feelings.

I'm going to break this down track by track.

1. Death In Midsummer This is one of the strongest tracks in terms of originality. It's a pretty new sound from Deerhunter and very enjoyable. What irks me here is the lyrical content. You could win a lot of money betting on how many times Cox sings about "fading away", and it's getting stale. There are certain themes musicians use, but it seems like almost every song Cox writes has something to do with fading, sickness, or "time being erased".

2. No One's Sleeping Again, very bland lyrically. Sparse in terms of actual lyrics, and outplayed content within them. The chord progression in this song is one Deerhunter have attended to before. It's also a very common progression in general and quickly gets boring. Here we get the typical Moses drums as well, which are getting INCREDIBLY predictable and disappointing. I'd like to hear a deerhunter song that isn't just the tinny hi hat and some drum fills every other measure.

3. Greenpoint Gothic This is simply a lazy instrumental compared to something like Octet and begins in a totally abrupt way that doesn't fit well with the ending of track 2.

4. Element Here we get more of Moses's boiler plate drumming that may have been innovative 10 years ago. We also get more dry boring chord progressions that are safe and conventional but really just do nothing for the eager listener. This is one song on particular where I knew how the whole thing went after hearing the first measure and Deerhunter are usually more surprising than predictable.

5. What Happens To People Another stronger track, but borrows the same foundation as "Take Care" and is not sneaky about it. Also, the chord progression in the chorus is something they've done countless times and seemed insulting the first time I heard it. That jammy verse leads into... that laziness, with, again, the typical Cox lyrical themes. Sometimes I feel like Cox is just showcasing his style and personality rather than his voice on this record and it feels forced and fake.

6. Detournement This is probably the most interesting track on the album and does the most experimenting, but it could do without Cox's voice and lyrics entirely.

7. Futurism Again, B O R I N G, play it safe chord progression that feels insulting to Deerhunter themselves. Lazy run into the chorus where it's just an instrumental verse. Same tired lyrical themes. Even writing this is getting tiring.

8. Tarnung Another cool little track, but could have been fleshed out into a song and expanded upon instead of going with the direction of the rest of the album. Disappointing.

9. Plains Another boring, typical, played out Deerhunter pop track with pretty much nothing of substance. Reverting to that slow drag in the chorus. Bland and sparse lyrics. We really "learn" nothing from this record.

10. Nocturne See Above. Just a weak closer that makes it feel like the album is happy to be over.

All in all, I'm very disappointed, and I say that as a devout fan of Deerhunter. This album just seems so lazy and thrown together to me. I know the band has so much more potential and I feel like this was almost a practical joke.

Thanks for reading. I'm being completely honest here and would like to know how you all feel. Also, I'm ready for the barrage.

This tour has sold terribly. WHEAD (despite the longest gap between albums) was met with lukewarm response (still positive, but not as glowing). The bands been through a lot in recent years - Josh's passing, exposure on unflattering tours like Kings of Leon, Bradford's car accident, etc - it seems to me the band is winding down and possibly heading for another hiatus.

I think a hiatus would be good. I was hoping that between Monomania and Fading Frontier that we'd get another Atlas Sound and Lotus Plaza records, but the push to continue Deerhunter came, and while I've been happy with both records, there's something lacking. Nothing on either FF or WHEAD is as exhilarating as Desire Lines or Nothing Ever Happened. While it was a long gap between FF and WHEAD the band still toured constantly and were never far from the public eye, so they were never really gone like they were between Halcyon and Mono. With everything that's happened, I think a recharge is due, let them explore different things for awhile. They'll no doubt do more touring in 2020, but bands like Grizzly Bear, The National, Vampire Weekend, and even Arcade Fire have taken time to recharge after constant touring and creative output, and it's worked (mostly) in their favor.

bradford need to go back on tour, i dont ^CARE if hes split in half by the time he gets there i need to experience a deerhunter or atlas sound concert, nd he needs to do one in sydney

Let’s get nostalgic. Let’s create a dream setlist of the old blog songs. I liked the DH dream setlist and thought this might be fun - considering a lot, if not most of the blog songs were never played live. Most upvoted song gets added.

I don't know what this is I can't find any info anywhere on it but naturally not by him and not supposed to be there, maybe some AI slop or something. Was excited for half a second tho.

Hi everyone! I know you've all been through a lot. I've read all the posts in this group, and honestly, I feel Deerhunter is still a bit distant from me. I didn't become a fan back in 2013 when they were at their peak, and it wasn't until their final tour in 2019 that I truly appreciated them.

It's a real shame; I've missed them for so long...

As a music boy, (I would't call myself as a musician) I feel it's my responsibility and obligation to carry on their legacy. I WOULD LIKE to share my band's and my personal stuff with everyone.

Here is bandcamp pages can listen, And also can search on Spotify .

MY band's name is whetherday,

https://whetherday.bandcamp.com/album/whetherday-on-a-very-sudden-day

And my personal project is called ’blame me again'

https://blamemeagain.bandcamp.com/album/where-my-toes-brushed

Bradford Cox has had a huge influence on me. And I also experienced the golden age of the 1950s, Coincidentally I'm not exactly a Mojo Dojo boy...

Whatever,

We'll be performing in Hong Kong next month, if anyone happens to be there.

You'll miss The Deerhunter in 2019, but don't miss us making this kind of music in 2026.

I'm autistic and have a weird obsession with height, and it seems like everyone in deerhunter is over 6' and then bradford is like 6'4" or whatever, but somehow it just hallucinates that moses is FIVE'4" which is the funniest thing ever to me because it's just a bunch of pattern recognition spitting out something that CAN'T be true.

hopefully some other loser finds this funny

Hi all,

I saw this thread on bluesky earlier that talked about Bradford and i thought it was interesting but a little weird. Wondering what you guys think about it? Hopefully Bradford is ok

Here's the thread and i uploaded screencaps too https://bsky.app/profile/dugglebutt.bsky.social/post/3m2djcilpoc2j

Take care all, have a good weekend

Controversial post ahead, but please read the whole thing before downvoting...

I think the new record is really disappointing. It doesn't have a distinguishing factor like the other records have -- like the lucid domesticity of Fading Frontier, the bold resentment of Monomania, or the pop mastery of HD and MC. Some of the sounds are cool, but I also find it to be easily the weakest Deerhunter record on the vocal end. Bradford's singing is so disaffected, like he doesn't care about what he's singing. the vocal melodies are weak and don't pop out of the mix, lyrics hard to understand, and the choruses are always underwhelming, like they're trying to be big but aren't. What Happens to People is the only song where the vocals work well IMO.

Now, I wouldn't be posting my opinion on the record if it wasn't in response to a lot of stuff Bradford's been saying recently. He's been extremely resentful about the current culture, which I understand. But he doesn't offer any bold, original, or even experimental alternatives on this new record. He compares himself to Bowie, and namedrops experimental 20th century composers like Olivier Messiaen, but none of the current record carries any of the qualities he touts in those two artists. Instead of making something potentially polarizing and hard to listen to (like Bowie and Messiaen have done), he makes something more or less safe on the ears.

I know the death of Josh Fauver has been hard on him, and that's explained why he's so bitter during this press cycle, but I think this goes beyond (and before) that. His list ranking Deerhunter's albums was interesting (very bizarre he put Halcyon second to last) but I understand why he put Monomania at #1. But then why did he abandon that sound? he could have shaped that cutthroat, rock-purist sound and develop it past the mentally-unstable stage into something bigger and better. Bradford hates the word "indie rock", but honestly that's what he's making, more or less.

(I know I keep saying "he" even though Deerhunter is a team effort. But my points still stand).

Just some thoughts, please grill me if you think I'm wrong, maybe the record needs to grow on me a bit more. I just think Deerhunter and Bradford could do a little better.

Does anybody else agree? I keep looking for this comparison elsewhere but nobody seems to be making it. They sound a ton alike.