Record Review: Hospice by The Antlers

Band: The Antlers

Album: Hospice
Released: Aug 18, 2009 on Frenchkiss Records
Genre: Folk, Indie Rock
Tracks: 10

Don't you just love feeling depressed? I know I sure do. You know what really makes me depressed when I'm feeling happy? Albums about dying loved ones.

To be blunt, Hospice, a concept album by Brooklyn-based band The Antlers, is a real downer. That's not to say it's a bad album; there are plenty of great melancholy albums. Just figured I'd warn you. From what I've ascertained, the album is about a man watching his wife/significant other begin to hate him more and more while she dies of cancer. Or, as the track "Bear" suggests, his pregnant wife/significant other. How's that for a bummer, eh?

Anyways, that gives you an idea of what's going to go down. The album starts off slow; The "prologue" is just a bunch of noisiness filler, don't really know what it's doing there. But hey, not my album. It blends into "Kettering" (a hint as to the nature of the story) which is a really moody indie ballad type thing. Same deal at the beginning of "Sylvia," but The Antlers begin to hit their stride here - the horns-over-fuzz combo demands a Neutral Milk Hotel comparison, though the album as a whole isn't much like them.

Anyways, "Sylvia" is followed by more quiet crooning bullshit, followed by a bunch of noisy filler bullshit.

This is my biggest complaint with the album. If you were to trim all the filler (and I'm excluding the barely audible mumbling and keyboards from "filler"), this album is nearly cut in half. Nothing drives me nuts more than washy nothingess where music is supposed to go. Sure, it's "moody" and "atmospheric," but when it gets down to it, it's a lie - that isn't a three minute song, it's a one minute song which is bookended by distorted humming.

That being said, the next song, "Bear," is clearly the best song on the album. It of course has the quiet plodding keyboard chords that The Antlers seem to be the masters of, but the singing is clear, and the lyrics are wonderful and just fucking heartbreaking:

"There's a bear inside your stomach.
The cub's been kicking from within.
He's loud, though without vocal chords
We'll put an end to him.
We'll make all the right appointments.
No one ever has to know.
And then tommorow I'll turn 21."

...

"Well we're not scared of making caves.
Or finding food for him to eat.
We're terrified of one another.
And terrified of what that means.
But we'll make only quick decisions.
And you'll just keep my in the waiting room.
And all the while i'll know we're fucked.
And not getting unfucked soon.
When we get home we're bigger strangers than we've ever been before.
You sit in front of snowy television, suitcase on the floor."

You can go ahead and compare it to "Brick," I'll wait.

But I mean really, that is some fine, fine songwriting if I do say so myself. The singer does a fantastic job with delivery, as well; you can hear pain in his voice. And on top of all that, the chorus is actually catchy! No more of that muted, subdued moaning!

Oh wait. Two minutes of noisy filler, followed by muted, subdued moaning. But it's a woman this time! I suppose I'm being too harsh, this song isn't too bad (once it gets to the goddamned song), and it almost sounds like old Songs: Ohia.

Actually, the rest of the album is pretty great. "Two" is a fun, Noah-and-the-Whale-esque indie pop number with a matching catchy-as-hell melody, "Shiva" softens up a bit, but is still firm enough to constitute an actual song, and I really liked the "Oohs" and horns in the back half of the song; The lyrics are heart-wrenching as well, but if I start describing them I might get tears in my neckbeard/on my laptop (Macbook, of course) and there's no women in this trendy coffeeshop to see how sensitive I am.

(Kidding)

Honestly, reading the lyrics to this album would be like reading the script to a Tarantino movie with all the expletives removed. You've gotta listen to it.

Anyways, this album accomplishes its job of being one sad motherfucker if nothing else. It'd be fantastic if they just cut the bullshit and played music, but as it is it's pretty good. The high points are great, the low points will make you feel like your pregnant wife is dying.

Best Tracks: "Bear," "Two," "Shiva"