Album of the day (#1001): Hospice by The Antlers

[albummaster]

Today's album of the day

Hospice by The Antlers (View album | Buy this album)

Year: 2009.
Country:
Overall rank: 217
Average rating: 82/100 (from 233 votes).

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Tracks:
1. Prologue
2. Kettering
3. Sylvia
4. Atrophy
5. Bear
6. Thirteen
7. Two
8. Shiva
9. Wake
10. Epilogue

About album of the day: The BestEverAlbums.com album of the day is the album appearing most prominently in member charts in the previous 24 hours. If an album, or artist, has previously been selected within a x day period, the next highest album is picked instead (and so on) to ensure a bit of variety. A full history of album of the day can be viewed here.

[Guest]

[Kiki]

Very miserable album indeed.

[MrFrogger]

Beautiful misery

[Dingerbell]

I try to avoid listening to the lyrics, as they're too upsetting.

With that in mind, this album is musically brilliant.

[Kiki]

[joshtraina]

Such an amazing record.

[Puncture Repair]

Fantastic album, always builds at the right moments whilst never losing sight of it's poignancy. I lent it to my brother a few weeks ago and he's totally sold on it.

I'd love to use this AotD to discuss exactly what we think the album is about. 'Bear' is the song that really throws things off for me, as it seems to be about an abortion experienced by a young couple, but the other songs don't suggest that the two characters are together. The rest of the album, of course, follows this man's obsession with healing this woman, and when he's unable to do so he's haunted much like she was haunted by a boy who died before she did.

Ever since I started listening to the lyrics, this album has been a real pain to listen to - I really struggle to simply just put the album on, because it really does destroy me.

Here's the full lyrics, alongside the equally enigmatic alternative titles for the songs.

http://antlersmusic.com/lyrics/hospice/

[Silver]

Still my favorite album, I doubt that will change soon. I just love everything about it, it's musically beautiful, emotionally effecting, and takes influences from post-rock and dream pop while putting it in a largely indie, sometimes folkish environment, which is pretty much a perfect combination of my favorite genres.

As for what you're saying Puncture, I've never really thought of Bear as totally fitting into the story of album album, which is why I still only see it as a loose concept album that follows a small narrative with the main focus being on the analogy for being an abusive relationship. One thought I've had is that Bear fits in more as kind of an aside, maybe to function as an even more personal thing from Silberman, that still fits into the hospital theme of the album. Maybe I should have asked him when I met him, but yeah, I see it as more of a loose concept thing that can go in several directions.

Anyways, this album is amazing and it and every other Antlers release are some of my favorite things ever. What a perfect way to start the new cycle of 1000.

[revolver94]

Can't really get into this one, always seemed kind of cheesy to me. I suppose I'll try again when I'm feeling sadder.