Deerhunter - 'Halcyon Digest' Reactions

Deerhunter's new record Halcyon Digest is absolutely amazing.  Exceeded my already high expectations.  A 9 out of 10, at least.  Certainly one of the best (if not THE best) records of the year.

Track by track...

1. Earthquake - Establishes the mood for the album.  It's slow, starts & stops, gets hypnotic (as Deerhunter material tends to do).  This album is dreamy throughout, and you get that feel right away here.
   
   
2. Don't Cry - Then things start rocking.  Some badass riffs.  "Come on little boy, I am your friend.  And I understand the pain you're in."  Do you, Bradford?  Yeah, I think you do.  Bradford tells the boy in question to keep his chin up, you don't need to understand the reasons why.  The reasons why everything sucks - not really important to know them, is it?
   
   
3. Revival - The first 'single' - I was already in love with this song for a month now.  Awesome piano line.  Has a 'bar setting' feel.  "Freedom.  Silence.  Always."  Seems to be about the idea of death.  Weighs the pros and cons.  It certainly would bring freedom.  But can you wrap your head around the idea of 'darkness always'?  It doesn't make much sense.  Eventually you'd have to wake up, right?
   
   
4. Sailing - Projects the imagery about being on a ship, alone, sailing through the fog, with absolutely nothing out there.  "You learn to accept...whatever you can get".  Bradford croons, beautifully.  Great lyrics, but really, this dude doesn't need to say a goddamn word to express himself.
   
   
5. Memory Boy - Album standout.  Exuberant.  Musically, brings the party, the victory, after the lonely sailing of the previous track.  So fucking catchy and awesome.  Though I haven't quite cracked the lyrics yet.  "It's not a house anymore."  Now it's a home?  "Try to recognize your son in your eyes...he's gone, gone, gone."
   
   
6. Desire Lines - Another standout.  Guitarist Lockett Pundt takes over vocals here, as well as on "Fountain Stairs".  Much as I love Bradford, Lockett really comes into his own here.  Kinda sounds like a lost Weezer track, with the whoa-ohs and catchy hooks.  "Is that the way things go, forever reaching for the goal, before everything black comes up gold?"  Then we get get several minutes of hypnotic guitar riffing.  Fantastic song.  When they're not playing in Deerhunter, Bradford has Atlas Sound, and Lockett has his own side project in Lotus Plaza.  This song makes me psyched for a second Lotus Plaza record.
   
   
7. Basement Scene - I love that opening riff.  More dream imagery.  "I don't want to wake up, no."  I want to get stoned and never get old.  But then something changes, and things flip around.  Now he wants to wake up.  I think there's an idea here about never dying, by living on through your fame, such as it is...by people remembering you.  "In the clubs, they know my name.  In the clubs, they know."
   
   
8. Helicopter - Jesus, what a great song.  "My final days in company.  The devil now has come for me...in helicopters circling the scene".  "No one cares for me.  I keep no company.  I have minimal needs...and now they are through with me."  Check out the video here.
   
   
9. Fountain Stairs - Picks up the pace again after "Helicopter", leading into the closing act of the album.  I wanted to say this is the least essential track on the record, but then I find myself really enjoying it.  There just ain't a bad track on here.
   
   
10. Coronado - The most 'different' track here, with horn instrumentation that has never been part of a Deerhunter song before...saxophone?  Gets me into a groove, reminds me of Spoon.
    
    
11. He Would Have Laughed - Fantastic drum beat as Bradford calls out.  "I'm a gold digging man.  I won't rest 'til I buy your land."  I love the way it changes up at the 5 minute mark.