Antlers Emerge From the “Hospice”

Followup to blog-approved 2007 album.

By Blurt Staff

Brooklyn's Antlers will self-release their new full-length, Hospice, through limited edition CD and download on March 3. The album chronicles The Antlers' evolution from detailed dream pop to densely layered shoegaze, from solo effort to band.

The group began as Peter Silberman's solo bedroom arrangements and recordings, but this upcoming release marks the first time Silberman assembled a group of friends to contribute: Darby Cicci (trumpet, bowed banjo), Justin Stivers (bass), Michael Lerner (drums), and Sharon Van Etten (guest vocals). Cicci and Lerner remain as core members of the live band.

Hospice is the follow-up to 2007's In the Attic of the Universe, which became The Antlers' unexpected under-the-radar breakthrough thanks to blog word-of-mouth. Along with several other EPs, a successful CMJ and SXSW '08, and this past fall's midwest and east coast tour, In September, The Antlers released a free download of "Two", the first single off of the new album. The track quickly earned adoration from the blogosphere, landing spots on numerous playlists and best-of lists. (It charted high on music blog aggregator Elbo.ws' list of most frequently-posted tracks, and ranked as Pop Tarts Suck Toasted's #1 single of 2008.) "Bear", Hospice's second single, will be released in January.

Silberman began writing Hospice as a concept album to answer for his disappearance after he moved to New York City in 2006. But what began as a simple explanation soon resembled a novel or film, a musical work best heard from start to finish. After nearly two years of writing and recording, the result is a lyrically dark, sonically expansive and grandiose album; a memoir of dysfunction and isolation, and a reminder never to lose oneself again.


Check out these MP3s of the two songs mentioned above:

"Bear" - http://www.antlersmusic.com/bear.mp3
"Two" - http://www.antlersmusic.com/two.mp3

[Photo Credit: Judith Levitt]