Deerhunter heads home with Halcyon Digest

So its been out a solid week now (legally) and had a prelease streaming spot on NPR.com (now taken by Sufjan Stevens latest sonic adventure "The Age of Adz"), but Deerhunter's new full length "Halcyon Digest" is still revealing itself to me.

Unlike their previous efforts, this album seems much more cohesive, much more like an album made up of songs.  Albums like "Cryptograms" and even the brilliant "Microcastle" (although the latter was a step towards this cohesiveness) consisted of solid, rhythmic psych-pop nuggets, interspersed with ambient experiments that you could simply sit down and allow to absorb you.

And it was partly this juxtaposition of experimentation against hooky, reverb drenched pop songs that made Deerhunter (much like another of my favourite, though quite stylistically different groups, Califone) so interesting and appealing.  One second I would be swaying and humming along to Bradford Cox's deliberate, mantra like vocals, the next I would be taken in a completely different direction, allowing the pulsing rhythms of, say, "Slow Swords" to put me in almost a trance like state.

With "Halcyon Digest", the ambience and experimental touches are still there, they have just become a much more organic part of the songs themselves.  Tracks such as "Sailing" start out sounding almost cavernous, then add gentle guitar licks, guided by Cox's delicate and almost always contemplative lyrics.

And as has come to be expected with Deerhunter, the classic 50's/60's pop element is prevalent.  "Revival", the 1st single released prior to the album, is a perfect example of this - simple guitar grooves ride over a cantering percussion as Cox sings of the wonders and conflict of being born again: "I'm saved, I'm saved/and ooh, could you believe it/You won't regret if you choose to believe it/Freedom, silence always/All this darkness...always" - this leads into signature wordless melodies backing the instruments, as the song peaks marvelously.

The religious theme is continued on the other single from the album, "Helicopter".  Lovely delay and pedal effects along with clapping percussion provide a back drop to Cox again, as he asks: "Take my hand and pray with me/My final place in company/The Devil now has come for me/And helicopters circle the scene"

There are also hints of the Velvet Underground as on the track "Fountain Stairs" with guitarist Lockett Pundt taking lead vocal duties without missing a beat (He also has this responsibility on the brilliant "Desire Lines", debatably the albums stand-out moment).  And the pleasantly surprising introduction of Bill Oglesby's saxophone on "Coronado", rather than seeming foreign and out of place, fits seamlessly into a song you might expect to hear on a Spoon album.

It all adds up to a deeply satisfying endeavour in which a band who has always been unafraid to experiment, finds itself at the peak of its powers.  Newcomers will appreciate the quirks without being scared off, while long-time fans can rest assured that this album, rather than being a departure, is a refinement of what makes this band truly special.  With Halcyon Digest, Deerhunter has found its way home.