Deerhunter
Fading Frontier
4AD / Playground

Deerhunter's seventh studio album, Fading Frontier, offers proof that the band is fully capable of producing good music after almost 15 years in the game. The album as a whole is somewhat warm. Sure, the lyrics tend to be gloomy and full of heart-ache, but it is all accompanied by light and hopeful tunes. The record is also the first since frontman Bradford Cox recovered from a dramatic car accident in December 2014.

Although not as angry as their 2013 release, Monomania, their typical devil-may-care attitude towards the more depressing aspects of life, such as Cox's illness, can still be heard on tracks like Snakeskin:
'I was born already nailed to the cross
I was born with the feeling I was lost
I was born with the ability to talk
I was born with a snake-like walk'

Cox's style of writing is both humorous, provocative and sad. While Cox does not necessarily think of himself as the the protagonist of his songs, he certainly channels a lot of his personal experiences into the lyrics. In contrast to Monomania, and to a certain degree Halcyon Digest, the lyrics now emit some kind of hope.

New to Fading Frontier is the vocal co-operation of both Pundt and Cox on the same songs. This provides a sense of interconnection between the various tracks. Some critics have wondered whether the record lacks the typical Deerhunter sound, but I would argue this a mute point. Fading Frontier is just good example of how they have been able to reinvent and develop their sound.

Copyright © 2015 Jord Nylenna