2012.07.29 Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest

Color: White

Released: 2010, September 28

Label: 4AD

My girlfriend and I have been screen printing all day… and usually when we do this sort of thing we take turns picking what we will listen to. Her first pick was this Deerhunter record. Not a bad a choice at all. I was initially a bit late the Deerhunter game, first getting into them with Microcastle/Weird Era Cont. But lead single from this record “Helicopter” hooked me pretty hard. Aside from that the tracks that Lockett Pundt takes the lead on are probably my faves. Ironically, when the band first toured on this record, we chose to travel to Nashville to see them. It worked out kind of nicely, though. We drove to Nashville, saw the band play and then hopped on a flight to Chicago from Nashville the next day for a week’s vacation. It’s appropriate that I have a memory like this tied to Halcyon Digest. The record feels very nostalgic and memorable in general. It has a very familiar yet new thread running through the whole thing. Several times, leader Bradford Cox references music from the past to trigger that sort of memorable, familiar vibe. The art is probably the weirdest to grace a Deerhunter record yet and I have no idea to describe it, other than intriguing. The sleeve is printed on a nice matte paper. I really like how the typefaces are mixed up on the track listing/lyric sheet on the inner sleeve. Additionally the wax labels feature photos of old reel to reel tape, which kind of reinforces the nostalgic vibe. Good stuff.