Track Listing

1. Intro
2. Cryptograms
3. White Ink
4. Lake Somerset
5. Providence
6. Octet
7. Red Ink
8. Spring Hall Convert
9. Strange Lights
10. Hazel St
11. Tape Hiss Orchid
12. Heatherwood

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #24406 in Music
• Released on: 2007-02-06
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
Deerhunter's artsy second full-length record is about contrast; dissonant but melodic, loud and bold yet dreamy and peaceful. Like Spiritualized on a bad trip, the first half is noisy, moody, and mostly instrumental except for Bradford Cox's occasional, heavily distorted sing-talking. But it shifts gears on "Spring Hall Convert" when the music lightens into lo-fi shoegazer pop. Elsewhere you'll find clanging punk, drone rock, and minimalist psychedelia. Sounds like a disjointed experience, right? Well, yeah, it is somewhat, but stay with it. After a few listens you'll hear the consistent sonic smarts that unify the record's wandering tone. The title track for instance comes off like watered-down Joy Division until the feedback kicks in, and the giant guitar blare sets off a charging momentum. A song like "Hazel St." has a goofier appeal, with its slightly awkward intro and loopy melodies. But there's nothing awkward about how the song generously unfolds so that by the end, the only thing goofy is the grin on your face. Such dynamism makes you wish they'd take a little more time in the studio to smooth out some of the record's rough edges, but then again, does the world need another glossy, over-produced record? Enjoy Cryptograms for its messy and scattered charm as well as its deceptively complex intelligence. --Matthew Cooke

Customer Reviews

Was not seen again....
Deerhunter describe themselves as an "ambient punk" band, but I really have no idea what that means.

But if their second album "Cryptograms" is any indicator, it involves solid, melodious rock'n'roll wrapped in a thick, murky blanket of shoegazer ambience, distant psychpop and droning punk. It's a stripped-down, misty album that bends your mind -- and your rock'n'roll likings.

First, an introduction of electronic loops and droning fog. Then we get the title track -- a ringing rocker that sounds very Joy-Divisionish, but smothered in chaotic side noise and faint distortion. "My greatest fear, I fantasized/The days were long, the weeks flew by/Before I knew I was awake/My days were through, it was too late..."

Things quiet down a bit for "White Ink," a haunting little shoegazer song full of rippling riffs and murky ambient sound. After the titular song, it's a relief to hear something so quiet. But then it stomps back into rock turf with the dark, thudding basslines and robot vocals of "Lake Somerset."

The rest of the album basically seesaws between those two sounds -- Deerhunter dabbles in minimalist psychedelica with an Indian flair, slow-burning rockers, ghostly ambient melodies, and some murky punk numbers. Things get a wee bit poppy near the end with "Hazel Street," but the album ends off with a shimmering shoegazer song, and the lean, sputtery "Heatherwood.

Deerhunter has had a rough past, including rather tepid dancepunk debut, and the death of their original bassist in 2004. So somehow it's not surprising that their second album not only sounds very different, but also full of regret, unease and uncertain endings ("When one life is over a new one begins").

The most powerful sound in here is Lockett Pundt's reverb riffs -- it rings and swirls all around the more grounded riffs and blazing basslines, drums and subtle synth. It's all foggy, dense ambience, and it's brilliant -- at times it sounds like you're hearing them from far away, with the volume turned up. At others, they sound like they were filtered through a radio.

But Bradford Cox's voice gets a bit lost in the blurry melodies; at times, he's barely more than a murmur. But if you can make out the lyrics, they are pretty good -- mournful, reflective, and pretty stripped down ("I arranged to leave on that day/There were complications I've chosen to stay/I saw the curtains and it was the end/When one life is over a new one begins..."

If Joy Division were swallowed by My Bloody Valentine, the results might be something like the blurry "Cryptograms." May Deerhunter make many, many more albums like this.

I was going to write a thoughtful, considerate review,
but Mr. Newmark a few spaces down basically stole every single word I was going to say. So, read that review twice I guess, if you want the full experience, and then go and buy this album.

deeper than it appears
Anyone who has heard even a moderate amount of the praise spewing forth for Deerhunter's sophomore album, Cryptograms, is in for a let down; at least initially. At least I am speaking for myself (as always). Released by the almost incomparably high standards and consistency of Chicago based Kranky label, Cryptograms is an oxymoron of sorts. Marrying early 90s indie rock with their new label's penchant for experimental, ambient ear candy, the theory of Deerhunter's sound is a marvelous one. However, my first listen was like getting punched in the face. After an almost Kranky required minimalist instrumental intro Deerhunter crushes your preconceived ideas of lilting and inspiring melodies with a garage of course unadulterated rock. For a couple of weeks I couldn't get past the first few songs. The one day I pushed my way through to the last have of Cryptograms to find that the hardnosed beginning morphed into a wonderfully satisfying shoegazer pop. Interspersed with several ambient instrumental tracks throughout the album, it is only as a whole that Deerhunter's Cryptograms can be appreciated and subsequently dissected into individual songs for one-off enjoyments. Cryptograms is, in my opinion the true grower album of 2007. The accolades can now be verified as accurate. Seriously, I love the first half of the album now as much as the last. The context has somehow opened up the entire album like a vision. Do not sleep on Cryptograms, this is one of the better album indie rock albums you're likely to find this year.