The Antlers are a shoegaze/indie pop band from Brooklyn, New York made up of Peter Silberman, Michael Lerner and Darby Cicci. In March of this year they released Hospice, marking not their first release, but certainly a definitive step towards a full band sound as opposed to Silberman's folkier solo recordings of the last three years.
Silberman had moved to Manhattan around 5 years previously and after an 18 month period of isolation he released The Antler's first album In The Attic Of The Universe under his own name. Soon after, he re-emerged into Brooklyn, and recruited Lerner and Cicci on percussion and other instruments. The Antlers over the next two years would release New York Hospitals and Cold War as EPs, before formulating a collection of material in early 2009 to contribute to the first full Antlers album 'Hospice'.
What emerged was a downtempo post-folk masterpiece, gaining almost unanimous critical acclaim. The independently produced album vastly outsold anything the band themselves expected, they were quickly signed to Frenchkiss records with a series of strong positive reviews behind them.
A remastered version of this stunning album was released on August 18, 2009 by Frenchkiss, along with the video for the lead single 'Two'.
Silberman shares not only part of his life story with Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, but also the influence the time in social exile gave him on his resultant music. Silberman's storytelling is desperate and intimate, and coated in lumberous melodies of confused, ambient folk. Some songs appear disorientated and vague, but others drive forwards on a full band post-folk sound. Layers of Cicci's instrumentation (banjo, keyboards, trumpet, bass guitar) engulf the desperate vocals and hypnotic percussion into expansive, reverbial shoegaze pop. They've recorded a My Bloody Valentine cover of When You Sleep, and the storyline of Hospice is a concept album of losing a loved one to cancer. The lyrical themes certainly fit the style.
You can pick up older songs for free on The Antler's Myspace
The Frenchkiss re-issue of Hospice is available through Amazon.
The Antlers - Two (MP3) (from Hospice)
The Antlers - Bear (MP3) (from Hospice)
The Antlers - When You Sleep (MP3) (My Bloody Valentine Cover)
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