Indie darlings Deerhunter bring the noise
After a tumultuous 12 months, Deerhunter have emerged as towering figures on the indie music landscape, writes Charlie Carter
It's been a roller-coaster year for US alt-rockers Deerhunter, one that balanced the highs of a hit album and critical recognition at a festival held in their honour against the lows of exhaustion, family crises and a cancelled tour.
No wonder, then, that founding member Moses Archuleta will be treating the band's debut Hong Kong gig next week as something of a holiday.
There they'll be part of a double bill with fellow American indie stalwarts Sebadoh. "Since Christmas is coming we'll probably get some shopping done, and the illuminations sound exciting - I'm really looking forward to that."
Over the telephone from his hometown, Archuleta hardly sounds like the battle-weary trooper whose band has emerged from the most intense time in a 12-year career. He's cheery in that clear-eyed, business-like manner that marks most young American rock stars these days. And Archuleta has every reason to feel a glow of achievement. Deerhunter's most recent album, Monomania, established the band as a major draw on the festival circuit, garnering rave reviews and a "best new music" tag by influential online music site Pitchfork. The five-piece also chalked up a personal ambition by curating the prestigious All Tomorrow's Parties (ATP) festival in Britain.
It all built on the reputation of a band whose 1960s-tinged psychedelia slotted nicely into the recent psyche revival that has taken the alternative music scene on both sides of the Atlantic and in Australia by storm. Adding to Deerhunter's stock has been acclaim for frontman Bradford Cox's side project Atlas Sound, which saw him veer away from the band's twisted melodic rock and into more avant-garde and electronic territory.
However, the band have been through some trying times this year, principally due to their drive to produce Monomania, the punishing tour schedule that followed and the pressures of curating ATP. Archuleta admits it was too much to squeeze into 12 months. "It's been a difficult year," he says. "We undertook twice the workload we ordinarily would just because of the combination of the new album and what comes with that and the ATP festival."
For a decade, the All Tomorrows Parties franchise has invited bands or artists to curate a weekend event that showcases their own influences and favourite new artists, and also gives them a chance to play. Previous curators include Morrissey, Patti Smith and Mogwai.