The Antlers - Familiars

Anybody expecting The Antlers’ Peter Silberman to recreate 2009’s harrowing but incredible Hospice is going to be disappointed. Since the tear-inducing intensity of tracks like the monumental ‘Bear’, the Brooklyn three-piece of Silberman, Michael Lerner (drums) and Darcy Cicci (keys, trumpet, bass) have replaced their planet-sized guitar sound with a jazzier feel, preferring waves of ululating brass to the monumentally aching chords that went before.
The fact most of the nine tracks that make up Familiars weigh in at upwards of five minutes also detracts from their immediacy, with pretty much every song being a mini-symphony of layered chamber rock that takes a lot of listens before it gives up its secrets. Stick with it, though, as the pay-off is eventually worth the wait.
For this listener, it was midway through the fourth listen to album centre-piece, ‘Director’ when it all made sense. What begins as spacey and slightly proggy elevator music transforms into a beautiful, bruised behemoth of yearning guitar, cascading synths and Silberman’s shimmering falsetto.
The incredible ‘Palace’ builds in intensity from a slow, jazzy start to a gargantuan beast of a song, where whole continents of chords cascade and crash, while the most beautiful brass section floats towards the heavens, the instruments and Silberman’s voice weaving together to create a whole that is far greater than the sum of its parts. The lyrics are pretty much indecipherable amid the fugue, but to be honest, it all sounds so stirringly, achingly beautiful, he could be reading his shopping list and it wouldn’t make much difference.
The brass continues its ascent on ‘Doppelgänger’, but it sounds a little too like freeform jazz for these ears: more art than emotion. Current single ‘Hotel’ is better, built on a bed of lush keyboards and almost dub bass, the brass interjecting like a drunken Mariachi band, while the lazy country of ‘Revisited’ and the pristine ‘Surrender’ are further highlights. And I defy anyone to immerse themselves in the stunningly beautiful five minutes that is ‘Parade’ without feeling refreshed and reinvigorated.
Not an easy listen by any means, Familiars finally reveals itself as a beautiful, bruising if imperfect encounter.

OUT JUNE 13.