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Microcastle proves that Deerhunter can make music that sounds very different from what they'd done before, yet still feels of a piece with their body of work.
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Less visceral than "Cryptograms," this follow-up shows two sides of a group that still hasn't quite figured out exactly what they want to be.
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Alternative PressThe richly recorded songs spool out with a natural ease. [Nov 2008, p.154]
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Another winner full of eerie beauty and restraint.
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Scary. And at times, scary good. [Nov 2008, p.73]
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Smartly, Microcastle stops short of alienating, an adjective more than a few scribes have lobbed at "Cryptograms."
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That rare thing in modern music, you feel Deerhunter grow with each second of song that passes, a band who delight in running under their own graceful steam rather than gasping at the airs of others.
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Where the split-personality of Cryptograms hinted as much, a cohesive effort on Microcastle delivers the goods in its entirety.
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The music doesn’t go far enough--it’s too restrained and mellow--but the point of view is crystal clear. This is alternative rock clinically perfected in a perpetual adolescence.
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FilterMicrocastle shows Deerhunter [sic] progresing with reason, creating one of their best releases yet. [Fall 2008, p.92]
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It's a very consistent record, with lots of wide-open spaces and quivering quietness, and just about every sound seems to fit perfectly exactly where it sits.
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Deerhunter's latest features more pop melodies and fuzzy soundscapes, forsaking the raw, intense sound we all love.
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It’s an excellent indie starter kit for the kids just plucking “Loveless” out of the bin.
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Deerhunter have indeed created a masterpiece. While it's not perfect, it has the charm and scope and full realization that was lacking in the band's earlier work.
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The constant fluidity here makes the album’s unpredictability seem grounded and cohesive instead of erratic.
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MojoMicrocastle could be 4AD's best release in well over a decade. [Dec 2008, p.108]
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The sounds on Microcastle form a lush landscape.
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If you’re not up on that stuff, Microcastle may seem like a more impressive creative breakthrough than it actually is, which could explain the gushy reviews.
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Though Microcastle is hardly straightforward, it’s an aggressive step toward the mainstream that sacrifices none of Deerhunter’s woozy adventurousness.
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Here, the band comes into their own by applying their own inspiringly distinctive, bleakly appealing sensibility to whatever ideas happen to move them.
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By discarding the hazy ambience of "Cryptograms" and revealing their winsome heart, Deerhunter have rewarded those who applauded their bravery and may even convince the doubters that they are as significant an act as their fans have faithfully prognosticated.
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Continuing the convention-defying structure that Deerhunter pioneered with "Cryptograms," Microcastle starts slow and spirals into something much larger.
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Q MagazineAn intriguingly woozy melange of out-of-focus vocals, feedback squalls and metronomic beats, everything coming together just so on the compelling 'Nothing Ever Happened.' [Nov 2008, p.121]
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On the group's third album, the usually extroverted singer, known for sporting dresses onstage, seems to be withdrawing, embracing a more delicate, acid-dipped sound. Microcastle has only one rave-up, but it's a killer: 'Nothing Ever Happened.'
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In putting the brakes on their revolutionary impulses to instead embrace old tropes and familiar sounds, Deerhunter has hit upon an endearing, awesome universality.
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Where Cox's Atlas Sound output is scattered and eclectic, Microcastle, Deerhunter's third album, is focused and consistent.
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But for all the praise it should receive for being the record Deerhunter were destined to make, what will make Microcastle a classic (and this has every right to become a classic) is what the album means to the person listening.
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The placement of certain tracks on Microcastle are an obvious glaring weakness, but one cannot take away the pure execution and quality of the songs.
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The bolder sound signals that Deerhunter is now less concerned with the scarring effects of loss, conflict, and the passage of time, and more concerned with the ways to escape those things--even if that escape is fleeting.
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Fresh on the heels of his deliciously spooky Atlas Sound solo album, the bizarre and beguiling Bradford Cox outdid himself again on his Brooklyn-based band's third record.
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In Deerhunter’s latest songs Mr. Cox sings about time, perception, crucifixion and murder, while the band maintains its gift for realizing just how far a small idea can be carried through repetition and accretion.
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It may end angrily, but when it’s all said and done, Microcastle is a blissful retreat from the known.
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UncutMuch of this album sounds like its been stitched together from 4AD's finest moments. [Dec 2008, p.88]
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Under The RadarThe recording is their cleanest yet, but worry not--there's plenty of ambience and guitar noise to be had. [Fall 2008, p.74]
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The ’Hunter may not have bagged a 14-point buck this time around, but Microcastle is still good enough to stuff and mount on the wall.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 92 out of 101
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Mixed: 3 out of 101
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Negative: 6 out of 101
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joesNov 7, 2008
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Jan 30, 2015
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markoOct 3, 2009Really a remarkable album; i would argue that this was my favorite of the decade.