Fading Frontier
Deerhunter
4AD
Four stars
On their seventh studio album, Deerhunter, the seminal Atlanta art-rock band, seem more content than ever. But a slight lack of adventure is hardly a knock. Their most innovative and adventurous work has provided plenty of tent-pole moments for modern indie-rock.
This is a group who have earned a bit of relaxation — and it’s hard to blame frontman Bradford Cox, who seems more at peace with his mortality than ever. His story is fascinating. Born with Marfan syndrome, he’s always been an outsider fighting for his life. This was exacerbated by a car crash last year that nearly killed him.
Life is a common theme of Fading Frontier. Standout track Breakers finds Cox harmonising with Lockett Pundt and sounding refreshingly serene. It's a welcome change of pace from 2013's sometimes brilliant but often-manic and messy Monomaniac.
But Cox – an onstage throwback to idiosyncratic frontmen such as Iggy Pop – is still a showman. The swaggering Snakeskin is lyrically unsettling and stylistically as Southern-fried as anything they've ever done.
After a decade of recording, Fading Frontier finds Deerhunter continuing to build on an already-great discography.
kjeffers@thenational.ae