Album Reviews

Deerhunter opens Microcastle with a Pink Floyd-like grand musical flourish taken at midtempo lysergic trail speed. The floating, vibrating textures give way to an insistent, deliberate, Wire-like beat that the group rides for a while before switching to dream-like reverie resplendent of Eno’s ambient projects merged with moodiness the late Syd Barrett might be proud to call his own.

These guys make do with whatever their budget and with wherever they recorded this, faithfully pointing the sound towards the great psychedlic-wash records of the 1960’s and ‘70s and their shoe-gazing children like My Bloody Valentine and the sound is skillfully done, but I can’t help but think what this might sound like produced at Air or Abbey Road with Alan Parsons, or Glyn Johns or John Punter or Rhett Davies engineering on 2” analogue tape.

I find it impossible to make out the lyrics so I don’t know what they’re singing about I couldn’t find the lyrics on line but I’m not sure if that matters as much as the mood and the vibe. Rest assured if you like the dropped names you’ll have a great time with this record. It’s got max appeal to 16 year olds and 60 year olds. Crank it up and groove. Life’s great.

PS:The enclosed CD is not the same album. It's more of an ambient dub-like affair but it's equally interesting