One thing’s for sure: you can count on Bradford Cox to create excellent music, but you simply can’t have expectations about what that music will sound like. Monomania is the newest effort from Deerhunter, the band fronted by Cox, who’s also the brains behind acclaimed ambient noise band Atlas Sound.
The lush, careful production of Deerhunter’s previous album Halcyon Digest has all but vanished, as the album opens with the rough guitars and compressed vocals of “Neon Junkyard.” The title couldn’t better encapsulate the song’s sonic experience. As much as it sounds like the whole mix is coming through a single SM-57 microphone, a close listen to the guitar’s clarity and balance of noise and melody reveals attention to detail. This is definitely Cox’s own distinct take on garage rock.
“Leather Jacket II” delves deeper into abrasive terrain before “The Missing” offers a fleeting glimpse of the ambient beauty that has defined Cox’s other work. “Pensacola” emerges as an album highlight, bearing surprising country twangs that recall The Men’s most recent effort, New Moon. Not unlike that band’s recent shift, A change in direction, especially one this stark, make for some needed adjustment and wrapping one’s mind around a new approach. Pervasive noise and garage rock compression make the album feel more one-dimensional than in reality on the first listen. Repeat listens will reveal a less than caustic middle movement to Monomania; “T.H.M.” tip-toes by sounding almost like The Strokes with bouncy keys and gently growling vocals and “Sleepwalking” and “Back To Middle” don’t fall far from this format, both adding a touch more rock-n-roll.
The swirling and lengthy title-track doesn’t emerge until the 10th song, but does get at the heart of what Cox aims to achieve with the record. Monomania saves the couple of tricks up its sleeve for the duo of closing tracks, acoustically driven garage pop that delves into the album’s most overt introspection and yearning lyricism: “I was spinning my back wheels/ I was stuck,” Cox groans over sparse guitar on the song which never gives up on its minimal arrangement. We’re left to guess if this despair is truly confessional, but with the long gap between Deerhunter’s last effort, Cox could certainly be singing about his attempts to figure the next steps for his musical projects. If so, it seems clear that he’s found the solution as he has delivered a surprising and convincing album with Monomania.
