The Antlers “Hospice” is one of the better records to grace 2009, yet it is getting overshadowed by the big guys. (As in Grizzly Bear, Animal Collective, Phoenix, etc…). Critics such as NPR have called the album “One of the most beautiful and moving works I’ve heard in a long, long time. Just astonishing.”
I have been sitting on this post, waiting to post about their record for a month now. I created the draft for this post on April 23rd. My reasoning for delaying this post was a reasonable one. I felt that a record like Hospice deserved a lot more time and attentive listening before I could post about it. This is the type of record that you listen to with headphones, and read the linear notes while listening. This isn’t something that you put on as background music. It isn’t fair to the Antlers, and it is not fair to yourself.
The story behind Hospice is an intriguing one. The album is a real album. Not a record with a few singles, surrounded with filler. This is a real fucking album man!! Hospice is musical journey through a boyfriends eyes as he painfully watches his girlfriend die in a hospital. Does not get much more sad then that eh? The motivation for this concept came from an similar experience that Peter Silberman, The Antlers architect went through in a relationship.
This is an album that tells a story, with Peter narrating it. The story is beyond heartbreaking. Death and sadness surround the record at every corner. Peters singing is gut-wrenching. You can feel his pain and suffering with every breath. Songs like “Kettering” and “Sylvia” are drenched in sorrow showing Peters very strong vocals. Although the albums topic is dark, that is not to say there are not uplifting tracks. Two of the albums best tracks actually don’t sound too sound. “Bear” has a grandiose feel to it, and “Two” has an upbeat melody. This demonstrates the wide spectrum that The Antlers gave us with Hospice.
This is a complete album. Hospice has a prologue and a epilogue, tying up all loose ends. You are invited by Peter to go through this dark journey and in the end you may actually see some light. Although the material is dark, after listening to it you may be motivated to go out and live. A realization came to me that I could be doing so much more at the moment with myself. This is a gift that you beg to get out of music.
In the end that could be what Peter wants. If anything, the album is up to interpretation. He would be proud that people are analyzing it and reacting to it in various ways.
Please do not let the year go by without giving Hospice a chance. This is a powerful album, one that has the power to truly change your life. There have been many great records so far this year, but I am not so sure if I have been moved by music this much in a long, long, time.
[mp3] : The Antlers – Bear
[mp3] : The Antlers – Kettering
Hospice was self released by the band but it has been remastered an will be re-released on June 23rd digitally, and physically on August 18th!
2 Comments
Will, I really enjoyed your review. I wrote about Hospice a couple of months ago, this album completely rattled me. From start to finish, it’s engrossing. I don’t expect it to fall from my #1 spot for 2009. And I cannot believe this guy is in his early 20s, he’s magnificent.
& I’m seeing The Antlers in 2 weeks!!!
Hey, I am just listening to it now for the first time while reading your post. So I am not going to write what I think about it yet (As you said – this deserves a few listens before summerising it in any way) but one thing I will say – This reminds me in a way The Afghan Whigs “Gentlemen” which came in the early 90′s or so. The way they narrate such a story and also by including “her side” of it too (the Whig’s “My curse”…)
It takes alot of guts putting on something like that ,cause if you are not 100% sencere about it, than you suck – but when it works – than you’ve got yourself a masterpiece.
Cheers!
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[...] Antlers have somewhat quietly released on of 2009’s finest records. It only gets better with every listen. It is a heartbreaking album thats for [...]