Album Review: Deerhunter - Why Hasn't Everything Already Disappeared?
After the lack of praise given to Deerhunter's past few albums, it's arguable how much sense a new direction would make for a band that seemed to peek almost a decade ago. Most fans would recognize the eerie tone of 2010's Halcyon Digest, a thoroughly psychedelic record that perfectly captured the band's most surreal ideas. Why Hasn't Everything Already Disappeared?, by contrast, is much closer to indie pop in its sound, even downright catchy at points.
Despite how accessible this record sounds comparatively, Bradford Cox's singing reveals a despondent nature that looms over these songs like a fog. Element, a track almost post-apocalyptic in its atmosphere, is somehow still upbeat between the piano melody and the strings supporting it. The lyrics recall "The wind was stained/Orange clouds fade up for a toxic view/Of endless time, endless time/Let it wash over your body", as if to convey the need to accept the evils of society for what they are and try to go on living anyway.
The entire record is sung under this veneer of forced happiness, the bitter resignation of a man who feels compelled to pretend the world isn't as terrible as it is. Occasionally, as on the relatively simplistic Futurism, he almost sounds convincing, but as always his words betray his thoughts: "You look cute in plastic/My existence drastic/And lake of flowers/Burning flowers". These moments, when Deerhunter's new sound blends perfectly with the melancholic lyrics, are easily the highlights of the record.
While the production by and large lacks the flair of past releases, there are flashes of greatness here, inspired in their simplicity. What Happens to People? bounces between uptempo verses with gleeful piano chords and a slower, more moody synth instrumental for the chorus. Even the opener Death in Midsummer, with its harpsichord melody and distorted guitar solo, sounds oddly positive as Cox bemoans the desire of capitalism to sap the lives of factory workes, with poetic lines such as "And in time, you will see your own life fade away/There was no time to go back".
This gimmick of bitter lyrics on top of pop-sounding instrumentals does wear a bit thin by the time the record begins winding down. It almost seems like the instrumental Greenpoint Gothic or the percussive Tarnung would provide a refreshing change of pace, but alas they are far too bland to do much more than pad the runtime.
Perhaps the most notable upturn is the penultimate track Plains, a remarkably catchy yet regrettably short track whose lyrics are cryptic, save for the clear embrace of nostalgia: "These plains/Are barren and hateful terrain/And what remains/Is the sound of trains". Conversely, the closer Nocturne opens with stuttering, filtered vocals, that luckily soon give way to an extended outro as the record plods to a less than exciting ending.
'Less than exciting' is, unfortunately, an apt description for much of this record. Why Hasn't Everything Already Disappeared? is far from a return to form, which will likely disappoint much of the band's remaining audience. However, in their failure to live up to their past, Deerhunter have performed admirably at creating such a tonally dissonant piece of art. A disjointed record, to be sure, but one with enough moments of interest to merit a listen.
7/10
Favourite Tracks: Death in Midsummer, Element, Plains