Halcyon Digest
DeerhunterNot a fan of the first track, although I do enjoy the atmospheric clean guitar. Too much space, gives me anxiety. The samples are cool though ngl. (Earthquake - 1/5 Second tracks beginning reminds me of Elliott Smith. The fuzzed out guitar right panned sounds incredible. Still undecided on how much I enjoy the vocal deliverance. Vocal harmonies are amazing. Don’t really like the ending though. (Don’t Cry - 3/5) Third track starts out more upbeat, feels like the album is beginning to go somewhere. I love the instrumentation here. There’s an absolutely FUZZED OUT guitar track hidden in there, again, incredible touch. “It doesn’t make much sense” Woah! That punchy delivery was incredible! (Revival - 3/5) Fourth track is returning to the moodiness. Intro clean guitar and vocals, drowned in hall reverb. I find the vocals kind of hard to discern in the mix, I can’t hold that against the album though. This track fails to catch my attention. Out of the songs so far, this is my second to least favorite. The least favorite being the opener. (Sailing - 1/5) The fifth tracks intro is great, it feels like a set up for something greater. Vocals hit, and I instantly love the song. By far my favorite on the album so far. The droning note at the end of each phrase sends goosebumps down my arms. Pre-chorus is really catchy. The drums are incredible in this track, I absolutely love them. The vocals are clear, less whispered. Middle instrumental interlude is tasteful. The guitar walking up and down the scale sounds great. A very long cut, over 6 minutes long. Middle instrumental begins to drag on. No return to vocals, instrumental permeates through the ending. (Desire Lines - 4/5) Track six’s intro is unconvincing at first. Return to hard-to-hear vocals. Two-three chord song, until clear break towards the 2/3rd of the song, pace change, not bad by any means, but just mediocre. (Memory Boy - 1/5) Track seven has a cool instrumental and vocal drone intro, I really like when the drums come in. I like the chord progression, very reminiscent. This track shares DNA with the previous track, but for some reason, I find myself finding this song much more. (Basement Scene - 3/5) Track eight is incredibly underwhelming, I don’t like the drum sample, and the lyrics sound like every other word that has been uddered on this album. (Helicopter - 1/5) Track nine, Another underwhelming song. Seems to me the song quality drops off dramatically towards the latter half of the album. Nothing about this song catches my ears in anyway. (Fountain Stairs - 2/5) Track ten has a very bare piano and acoustic guitar intro that builds into a mass instrumentation. I do NOT like the vocals, I just find them incredibly annoying where they sit in the mix. God bless the sax solo though. (Coronado - 2/5) The final track has quite an interesting slap back delay acoustic guitar intro. You can HEAR the vocals in this mix, but they are still drowned out with hall reverb. I don’t get the appeal of this track, although the guitar riff is very catchy. (He Would have Laughed - 2/5) The album is a 2/5. An underwhelming experience, just feels like an electric Neutral Milk Hotel. The album definitely has a feeling, don’t get me wrong. It’s very consistent and I applaud it for that, but none of the tracks, besides two, do anything for me.