Institute double for old-fashioned indie survivors Deerhunter
FOR a while now, old-fashioned indie has been totally out of fashion.
The elder statesmen of the guitar-toting world have either retired (Pavement), ploughed their furrow with an unwavering single-mindedness (Sonic Youth, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy) or retired then returned to cash-in on their legendary status (Pixies).
Whichever, these people are the past, you hear?
It is rare, then, for a band with distinctly traditional leanings to ride the zeitgeist as adeptly as Deerhunter have done.
Their breakthrough album Cryptograms (2005) invoked the reverbed ambience of early-'90s British feedback-stoners Flying Saucer Attack, as well as the light, sun-dappled bliss of the magnificent debut Spiritualized LP, Lazer Guided Melodies.
Intriguingly, however, Deerhunter also threw in doses of Proper Songwriting, best exemplified by the romantic, overdriven swoon of ‘Strange Lights’.
Cryptograms documented the emergence of a distinctive group sound from its protective cocoon of influences.
It was raw and far from perfect, but it was extremely promising. And it was followed bywhat was damn nearly a Perfect Indie Pop Album – the accessible and admirable Microcastle.
Released in 2008, Microcastle still offered nods to the indie elders (this time more hooky practitioners, such as Guided By Voices, Pavement and The Buzzcocks), but by this stage the band were starting to become quite, quite themselves.
One of the stand-out tracks was ‘Nothing Ever Happened’, a sheer joy to listen to, with a muscular, poised instrumental coda putting the tin-lid on the beautifully-judged rocker that preceded it.
Here was a song with enough twists, turns and fluidity to convince the world that this Atlanta, Georgia group were blessed with limitless potential.
Perhaps the highlight of Microcastle, though, was ‘Agoraphobia’. A truly beautiful track, full of purposeful, disciplined melancholy, this song was up there with the best originals of any guitar group this decade.
I start my interview with Deerhunter guitarist Lockett Pundt by asking him about ‘Agoraphobia’.
For a group who have produced so much ambient, angular and uncompromising material, it’s quite surprising to hear something so prettily ‘formal’, if he knows what I mean.
It’s played without ego, each musician showing the discipline to contribute his part intelligently, not trying to drown everybody else out with flash.
“Yeah, that makes sense”, agrees Lockett.
“It is a pretty straightforward song. It’s fun to try to deliberately write a song like that. Most of the writing I do, as well as Brad (Bradford Cox, lead vocalist and Deerhunter mainstay) is more stream of consciousness.
"Then you go back and piece it together into something better.
“Sometimes, it just works how it is. Writing a song and trying to make it ‘formal’ like that from the beginning can be a lot harder to get through than just picking up an instrument, playing and then starting to try to make sense of it afterwards.”
It seems that with Deerhunter, a four-piece, the songwriting spark can come from anywhere.
Process
“The process varies from song to song”, explains Lockett.
“Some are very collaborative, in that the idea is worked out in the studio, or discussed in advance.
"Others might be a demo that Brad, Josh (Fauver, bass) or I will introduce and the song will remain exactly as it is, or it could then be completely changed. It all depends on what the song calls for.”
There’s certainly no creative block on the group at the moment.
Lockett has just released a solo album under the moniker of Lotus Plaza.
Bradford constantly releases material on the group’s blog, under the name of Atlas Sound.
And when Microcastle was leaked onto the internet ahead of release, the band flipped the bird to those responsible by redesigning the album’s cover art and adding a CD of bonus material to the official release (Weird Era Continued – a largely self-recorded extras compilation well-worth hearing in its own right).
Was Microcastle an indication that we can expect future Deerhunter releases to continue in a (relatively) poppy indie-rock vein, whilst the band’s members work out their more esoteric impulses through a series of side projects?
"Microcastle is just something different, but not necessarily an indication of what’s to come," counters Lockett.
"We still use a lot of ambient stuff in our live set, but we didn’t want to make another record like Cryptograms. It’s more fun to expand your horizons from record to record. Weird Era Continued was more impulsive, in that with the record being leaked, we wanted those who still decided to buy it to get a surprise.”
The Manchester music legacy is certainly not lost on a group whose ears are definitely open to British sounds. Bradford has namechecked The Fall in the past and Lockett confirms that Mark E. Smith’s men, along with Magazine and New Order are ‘bands we can all agree on’.
Deerhunter’s first show in Manchester was a visit to Café Saki in Rusholme, which this correspondent is still gutted to have missed.
On that early tour, the group also stopped in at Channel M, where they were accosted by Frank Sidebottom.
“He recreated the Tiananmen Square protest on a miniature soccer field, with plastic soldiers and tanks, whilst interviewing us and Liars”, a bemused Lockett remembers.
Deerhunter play two sets at The Deaf Institute on Tuesday, May 19 – a matinee show at 6pm prior to their headline set the same evening.
Published: Mon, 19 May, 2008
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