A far cry from the junkyard-rock efforts achieved on their previous record, Monomania, Deerhunter have turned things down a notch on their new album, Fading Frontier. Written and inspired by frontman Bradford Cox’s “passionate rage” and “obsessive tendencies,” Monomania was the band’s rawest album to date. Sounding like it was recorded in a tin-can, the record hit a sweet spot in-between DIY indie-rock and elaborate, psychedelic hipsterdom. Deerhunter’s newest album is much chirpier, giving way to their trademark angry vibes. Arguably their most compelling album to date, Fading Frontier is a change in mood from pissed-off to positive.
Prior to Fading Frontier’s release, Cox was hit by a car, leaving him seriously injured. The frontman has claimed that the accident “erased all illusion,” and inspired the new record. More about recovery than discovering a new lease of life, Fading Frontier sticks out as Deerhunter’s turning point as a band that are about more than miserable music. No track personifies this new philosophy more than the quietly comforting ‘Living My Life.’ Scattered with brushy percussive sections and intermittent hazy guitars, the track stirs up a much warmer sound than what hardcore Deerhunter fans are used to. Noticeably, the production techniques on Fading Frontier are heavier, and bring up memories of previous triumph Halcyon Digest: a strong indication of band’s reunion with producer Ben H. Allen. Likewise, a new pop-soaked sound can be found on the glittering ‘Duplex Planet,’ as the chord progressions and harmonies are made cleaner and more refined.
If Menomania was pounded out at full throttle, then the mid-tempo strides felt in dream-pop anthem ‘Take Care’ — one of the LP’s standout tracks — are a sign that Deerhunter are hemming their sound back. The poppy, almost swoon-like guitars at the song’s climax are wistful, delicate, and miles apart from the brutal bric-a-brac on Monomania. ‘Leather And Wood,’ another example of this crisper songwriting, further adds to the themes of recovery that undertow the record, as Cox wheezes out “I believe my head is on straight, I’ve been given this chance, to make things great, I believe I can focus.” A slow jam that plods along, it sounds miles apart from the corrugated iron riffs and amped-up melodies that defined Deerhunter’s earlier incarnations.
“Scattered with brushy percussive sections and intermittent hazy guitars, the track stirs up a much warmer sound than what hardcore Deerhunter fans are used to”
Toeing the line between artists like R.E.M, David Bowie, and Iggy Pop, ‘Leather And Wood’ and ‘All The Same’ are mellowed out, thought through and crafted by a host of folk, indie and, most noticeably, pop influences. Containing a quiet chaos, the songwriting efforts of Deerhunter are returning to more subtle pastures, which are sharply juxtaposed to the rowdy, fuzzbox-style vocal production techniques used on tracks like ‘Ad Astra’. Referencing the accident that inspired the album, ‘Breaker’ captures Cox’s thoughts and trials following the accident, as Lockett Pundt sings “jack-knifed on the side-street crossing, I’m still alive, and that’s something.”
Like in many of Deerhunter’s records, guitarist Lockett Pundt’s vocals appear in some of the songs. Electro ballad ‘Ad Astra,’ for instance, takes us down the synth-pop routes of the new album. Along with the trip-folk, Velvet-Underground-inspired ‘Carrion’ and others, the more psychedelic manifestations on the record are juxtaposed nicely with Fading Frontier’s first single, the jaunty ‘Snakeskin.’ Tuned highly and sung sweetly, ‘Carrion’ finishes the album with the bittersweet statement of “Even though you’re gone, I still carry on, It’s the same big sea, It’s the same to me.” Although Cox has made room for more cheerful thoughts, it wouldn’t quite be a Deerhunter album without something to mull over at the end.
Pulling no punches, Fading Frontier is Deerhunter’s warmest, most unflinching and bold album yet. It may miss a trick or two here and there, but Fading Frontier arguably rivals Halcyon Digest as the band’s greatest album. Keeping comparisons aside, however, Bradford Cox has been very open about licking his wounds following an accident that could have taken his life. Having seen oblivion staring at him in the face, Cox has written another masterpiece. Surviving an accident that could have put a sudden halt to Deerhunter’s music has been a turning point for the band, catalysing their latest and greatest work.