Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest (2010) [4AD] // Grade: A

Said to nest at sea in winter, the halcyon is a mythical bird capable of calming the wind and waves with its outright charm. Its lure at full strength here, Bradford Cox and his Deerhunter brethren return with their fourth album, Halcyon Digest, a brilliant combination of the woozy head trips present on the mammoth Weird Era  Cont./Microcastle gulp with the pumping, meditative sparkle of the band’s early attempts and side-project efforts.

A known crate digger—”I see him every week,” remarked one Athens, GA record store owner I met this year, “flipping through the vinyl section”—the quartet’s latest succeeds in blurring the line between what’s contemporary and what’s musingly nostalgic. Halcyon is dotted with realized and inventive instrument layers (squelchy sequences, harmonicas) and absolutely restful hits. Capable of charming both the acts’ most headphone-tripped fans with its contemplative placements, Halcyon doles out to those new fans (there are still plenty) an arms-wide-open access to the band at its most computable.

Though the record is friendlier than ever before—the album cover may not look it—Deerhunter’s praised model of cathartic, free-thinking pop is still here buzzing amongst song supports, lost-in-the-rabbit-hole density or psychedelic revivalism. The first worldwide LP for label 4AD, Halcyon Digest was recorded at the band’s hometown Chase Park Transduction Studio in Athens, GA. Self-produced by the group; the man responsible for working Merriweather Post Pavilion, Ben Allen, handled the album’s mixing.

Halcyon’s tunes are brilliantly placed, played and delivered over its heavy 46-minute runtime. Your first moment back from Weird Era (or Rainwater’s EP land if you got it) is the loopy serenity of opener “Earthquake.” Backed by acoustic twirls and handclaps, this is not the towering diving density from before. The beat clicks on like an 808 and is coolly refreshing after the moment Bradford Cox’s lyrical calm washes over. This thump is also present on the  water-droplet, múm-sounding “Helicopter,” over which Cox laments “No one cares for me, I keep no company.”

The band’s greener grass growing tall, Deerhunter ventures into bar-counter, working-man’s blues on the Springsteen-spiced pair (there’s saxophone!) of “Fountain Stairs” and “Coronado.” The latter opens directly with a gracious quirk that begs inclusion to the new Apple ad, before launching into a Boss-hinted roll-along, pianos supporting. Though downright lovely, “Cornonado” might be the most un-Deerhunter Deerhunter track so far.

There’s no song here not worthy of critical mention. “Sailing” whispers along like some Radiohead or Clinic B-side; the stunning “Memory Boy” resonates a Christmas song gone deep— chiming bells and apparent infection included— with the diaristic lines “That October, he came over everyday, the smell of loose leaf…” drifting from Cox.  On the 60s (think the classic “Blue Angel”) ditty “Basement Scene,” the wirey singer’s lyrics are some of the most accessible yet. “Dream a little dream all about the basement scene. I don’t wanna wake up, I don’t wanna wake up. If you’ve seen the light turn gold, come out tonight and we’ll get stoned. I don’t wanna get old.” The hazy sound of a tape spinning on a four-track reel ends the song; at the 3:40 mark you’re actually hoping to hear the click of a basement exiled band pressing stop on the machine.

It’s known that Cox provides heavy input on every Deerhunter album, though, it’s guitarist Lockett Pundt’s midway point “Desire Lines” that shines as a real standout; it’s a measure for just how sociable the band can make a song these days. Written by the Lotus Plaza player, “Desire” harks to something Interpol might do at their most comfy. It’s a breezy tune supported by vivid piano hits and rolling, 60s bass. The track’s lyrics, a pertinent piece of the Deerhunter allure; “Whatever goes up, must come down,” are perfect for that new fan’s bobbing sing-along session. The track ends, in pure weighty accord, with an almost two-minute krauty pop, guitar jam coda landing the song just shy of the seven-minute mark.

It’s no secret that Halcyon Digest is about about memories and how we interpret them. Singer Cox said of the album’s title that it’s namely about “The way that we write, rewrite and edit our memories to be a digest version of what we want to remember.” It’s this timescape that keeps the act’s fourth album effortlessly exciting, moving and downright stunning as a career-marking step in the right direction.

- The Holloweyed