"Kettering"
from the album Hospice
2009
iTunes
For the past two years, Peter Silberman and his merry band of Antlers have diligently worked at putting together their latest release, all the while playing a never-ending string of shows in and around New York and gaining steam as more and more fans and bloggers took notice of what Peter and The Antlers were doing with their sound. On the band's last release, the epic In the Attic of the Universe, Peter did all the writing, all the recording, and all the playing by himself, crafting a subtle masterpiece in the realm of bedroom pop. As great as that record was, it was the promise of the man behind it that was the most intriguing aspect of it. For years Peter Silberman has released these dreamy records and slowly he has matured into a brilliant songwriter with an even greater sense for arranging and producing the sound to go with his songs. The result of that maturation process is Hospice, a record that shows off affections for a huge array of styles and genres ranging from ambient sounds to pop to drone metal and shoegaze. He piles the styles together creating a fully realized wave of sounds that turns into completely palpable emotions.
Hospice is a delicate record, so delicate in fact that the cover should be stamped with a bold faced stencil of the word "fragile." Slowly a wave of sound builds on opening track "Prologue," cracking underneath, barely audible until this overpowering wave (deafening if it's turned up loud enough) comes crashing through the empty space. All of a sudden you are startled, alert, and awake to the sensation of sounds that begin to pop all around you and before you know it Peter is singing the opening line to "Kettering."
"I wish that I had known in that first minute we met, the unpayable debt that I owed you," he sings and we are thrust into a world that is far from the one we were just in. From here we are taken on a journey with a dying patient and her care taker, through never-ending waves of emotions ranging from love to fear and everywhere in between. It is heartbreaking at times and uplifting at others, but that stark way Peter presents his lyrics is absolutely haunting. The words he sings, and the way he sings them, will be with you for a long time.
But the emotions aren't kept within the lyrics. For the first time Silberman has put other players on his record, namely his backing band in The Antlers with some additional vocals from Sharon Van Etten, allowing Peter to put the task of conveying his emotions in the hands of some very able players. Darby, Michael, Justin, and Peter all show an ability to stretch the limits of their instruments in ways that have rarely been explored. The music result is a non-stop wave of droning mixed with more conventional sounds that allow the story of Hospice to unfold in what is unstated as much as it does in the lyrics.
As the record flows in and out from song to song, so do the emotions found within each. At one moment you'll find yourself near tears rapt by the sorrow of the sounds only to be lift up the next by some shinny guitar bit. No sequence does more for the album then the three song middle which features the albums first two singles. Starting with "Bear," flowing through "Thirteen," and right into the sparkling "Two," we learn so much about the story and The Antlers do a remarkable job of going from one emotion to the next without breaking stride.
As great as these songs are, an album like this doesn't really have true singles and doesn't need them. There are no catchy choruses, no sing-a-longs; instead they rely on all the parts working together, creating a whole that is the sum of its parts. Hospice accomplishes that like few albums ever have. Peter understands how to turn an album into a full story, he gets everything out of it and passes it right into your ears and it's just as vivid as picking up a book and reading every page of it. That's the truly remarkable aspect of Hospice.
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