Brooklyn-based band the Antlers have developed in their meticulous way. After incubating as a solo recording project in Peter Silberman’s bedroom, they are now a lush, orchestrated group with melodious layering. Silberman crafted the Antlers’ first full-band project in 2009, the critically lauded Hospice. Two years later they returned with Burst Apart, a transitional LP that incorporated a saucer-eyed ambience in the realm of Sigur Rós, discarding any notions that they were out to replicate the semi-biographical emotion of Hospice.
With Familiars, Silberman cements himself as one of indie rock’s more compelling singers. He’s capable of projecting a wide, complex range of emotions — angry and defeated on “Hotel,” cautious but hopeful on “Intruders.” On the straightforward saunter of “Parade,” Silberman connects the future with the past: “But when the streets get flooded/ We’ll know what proximity’s worth/ ‘Cause we’re already here in the same place when our phones don’t work.” It’s a nod to modern life on an album of timeless themes.
The instrumentation on Familiars has a transcendent brightness, and with the Antlers concentrated on catharsis, the result is a string of patient, beautiful crescendos.
The Antlers play the Belly Up Tavern on July 16.
Brooklyn-based band the Antlers have developed in their meticulous way. After incubating as a solo recording project in Peter Silberman’s bedroom, they are now a lush, orchestrated group with melodious layering. Silberman crafted the Antlers’ first full-band project in 2009, the critically lauded Hospice. Two years later they returned with Burst Apart, a transitional LP that incorporated a saucer-eyed ambience in the realm of Sigur Rós, discarding any notions that they were out to replicate the semi-biographical emotion of Hospice.
With Familiars, Silberman cements himself as one of indie rock’s more compelling singers. He’s capable of projecting a wide, complex range of emotions — angry and defeated on “Hotel,” cautious but hopeful on “Intruders.” On the straightforward saunter of “Parade,” Silberman connects the future with the past: “But when the streets get flooded/ We’ll know what proximity’s worth/ ‘Cause we’re already here in the same place when our phones don’t work.” It’s a nod to modern life on an album of timeless themes.
The instrumentation on Familiars has a transcendent brightness, and with the Antlers concentrated on catharsis, the result is a string of patient, beautiful crescendos.
The Antlers play the Belly Up Tavern on July 16.