Bradford Cox and co. can do no wrong. Just weeks after an incredible set at the SFBH, the Rainwater Cassette Exchange EP has landed in my welcoming hands. A 5-track masterpiece, there are tracks representative of all facets of the Deerhunter / Atlas Sound / Lotus Plaza aesthetic. The tracks are still about the distended depressions of life, life's ills and the small victories and morbid observations found within.
Famous Last Words is by far one of the greatest tracks to have emerged this year, with music and lyrics from Bradford Cox acting as the frontman's masterpiece contribution. Disappearing Ink (which emerged with a beautiful music video last year) is another track with lasting impact that won't leave your synapses. Title track Rainwater Cassette Exchange is an extension of the Microcastle / Weird Era Cont stable indicative of the swamp guitar filled reverb loop fury that Deerhunter is more than famous for.
The usual 1960s throwback sun-skimmed pop aesthetic is an all but assured feature of this Deerhunter release, but there are underlying gradiant tones from the noise-experimental black to the pop-shimmer white. Recorded at the indie music mecca Rare Book Room by indie music mecca-master Nicolas Vernhes (whose work has also recently featured on Meneguar's I Was Born At Night, Animal Collective's Water Curses EP and Dirty Projectors' Bitte Orca). And given the work ethic of Bradford Cox and the devoted discipline of Masters Pundt, Archuleta and Fauver it was a recipe that could not help but be a perfect combination.
Circulation is a drawn out stomper of a track to close the EP with a superbly lengthened reverb sonic collage of vocal loops and conversational soundbites that leaves us waiting for more - all to be found in the upcoming Atlas Sound full-length Logos due out at some stage soon. I wait with baited breath!
