The Antlers | Hospice | A Review of One of The Most Stirring Albums of The Year

The city of Brooklyn and surrounding area have given the music world a number of memorable bands. Of late they have been of the electronic persuasion like Passion Pit and Discovery; both are based in and around New York. But what of the heart? These bands are fun for the club and they make up in spirited gusto what they are lacking in heart. The Antlers may not be as accessible as the other bands mentioned, instead they offer something else. As an album The Antlers’ Hospice from beginning to end walks you through a journey consisting of the basest of human desires and fears in a journey of Love lost. Delivered through ocean size waves of ambient synth, The Antlers do not hold back, experimenting with folk vocal style and eerily moving carousel keyboard creations.
The imagery of the lyrics is more dream like than anything else created from the mind of lead vocalist/guitarist Peter Silberman. Making what is captured perfectly in Hospice so ironic, the heart-wrenching reality of losing someone close to you, unguarded and utterly exposed, Hospice is a musical epitaph that should be heard around the world. Where does this album reside in terms of genre though? The rebirth of the popular genre psychedelic ambient rock but as said before the lyrical style used by The Antlers is more folk in origin, leading us to categorize their style of music as an ambient psychedelic/ folk rock… what a mouth full. Key tracks off of this album are, Kettering, Sylvia, Bear, and Two.