By Andy Sears
Photos By Ben Stas
Deerhunter’s tour rolled through Boston on Thursday with a stop at Royale and delivered a packed set of fan favorites and prime cuts from their latest studio effort Fading Frontier.
Now it can be easy to get all the “deer” themed band names in indie rock music confused so whether you appreciate it or not lets do a quick run-down of all of them. First off, they all seemed to be breaking out circa 2007-2009 which can make things confusing. Truth is, I dismissed the Atlanta, Georgia based band Deerhunter because it just seemed like too much “deer” to take on at the time. It was all too much, too many “deer” themed band names. A New England native, I was undeniably drawn to Providence, Rhode Island’s Deertick with their first two albums bursting out behind John McCauley’s scratchy vocals and heartfelt lyrics. It just made sense, the band which felt like a well-kept indie music secret at the time put on a helluva fun live show for a few years and since then has gone on to be an a staple post-fest host of the illustrious Newport Folk Fest after party. Divulging deeper into the indie art rock scene there’s San Francisco’s Deerhoof , who caught my attention with their raw staccato beats, sticky crunchy guitars, maximum volume and a wonderfully unique Yoko-esque singer (only listenable and quite a bit more lovable). Out of all them, they’ve been around the longest and hence are probably the most annoyed by the additional “deer” bands that were popping up left and right.
To throw a curve ball into the mix, also originally based out of Providence, Rhode Island, The Dear Hunter mysteriously climbed to some acclaim amidst with their thematic rock concept albums. I remember these rock acts were hyped the shit out of when they came through the Somerville theatre in 2013, but it never caught my attention. I didn’t get it and with their bands name being so closely related to Deerhunter, they both just never fell on my radar. On top of that, if we throw in the Antler’s to the discussion we could quite possibly cover almost all parts of a poor deer’s anatomy in indie rock band names.
Fast forward to 2015 and Deerhunter, the Atlanta, Georgia band has made one of the most compelling and original records of the year. Garnering attention from the groove laden single “Snakeskin,” and twisting your ear with wildly different “Breaker” and “Living My Life;” my curiosity about Deerhunter had me digging back through their entire catalog. Their show Thursday at the Royale proved that it was not only worth my time to catch up with them but quite possibly solidified them as my favorite “deer” band out there.
Behind lead singer and the creative archetype of the band Bradford Cox, Deerhunter’s show opened with “Desire Lines” off of 2010’s Halocyn Digest and “The Missing” off of 2013’s Manomania before committing to Fading Frontier material for the majority of the fifteen song set. “Breaker” didn’t quite capture the melancholic vibe is presents on the record, but “Living My Life” was a song that was totally transformed live. Behind a Paul Simon Graceland’esque bass line not quite so evident on the record, the song took on almost a Carribean uptempo flare and was one of the highlights of the night. “All the Same” saw some light moshing break out in the crowd and from my view in the balcony you could see the Deerhunter has some pretty passionate fans. “Take Care,” another highlight was a sort of psychedelic waltz. Cox introduced “Helicopter” to the crowd only to confusingly break into “Snakeskin” towards the end of the set and saving it to kick off the four song encore. The set had very little banter, and was free of Billy Corgan stories that have caught headlines lately, with Cox opting to let the music do that talking on this night.
Overall, the set which seemed short captured what makes Deerhunter not only stand apart from the other “deer” bands, but from a lot of the norm in indie rock this year. Its spacey, ambient and every song was stretched out by the four piece band layering on textures of fuzz, noise and Cox’s crooning vocals.
Atlas Sound, Cox’s solo endeavor kicked off the night and essentially seems like his own personal spaceship powered by drum machine, keyboards and samples which he weaves in and out of the mix seamlessly.
