Captive Audience

"It was the first time in forever – and everyone admitted it – that we were really, extremely nervous,” laughs Moses Archuleta. Deerhunter curated All Tomorrow's Parties at Camber Sands in the UK last June, and Archuleta looks back on the event with pride. “It was one of the best musical experiences I've ever had in my life,” he says. “I haven't felt that good about being a part of music in a long time.”

Deerhunter headlined the festival, playing a different album in full each night: Cryptograms (2007); Microcastle (2008); and their breakthrough, Halcyon Digest (2010). The performances capped three days of music from The Breeders, Panda Bear, Black Dice, The Black Lips and two dozen more acts, all hand-picked by the band. The band's drummer, along with driving force Bradford Cox, was a mainstay on-site, watching as their little baby elephant took flight. Archuleta says the stress of curating a three-day festival was similar to writing and recording a whole album: “It was fun when it was happening, but it was such an undertaking and it was so stressful doing it. It's been an intense year and, workload-wise, that was a bit more than we could bear.”

Deerhunter kicked off their epic year with a new album and a line-up change. Bassist Josh Fauver was replaced by Josh McKay, and Frankie Broyles of Atlanta indie-rock outfit Balkans was added as a guitarist. Together with Cox, Archuleta and guitarist Lockett Pundt, these new recruits all went into the studio to record Monomania. “We had some new people in the band, so it was good for us to reapproach things from the ground up. We threw them into the deep end, right off the bat, and they just ran with it,” Archuleta explains. “Josh is the oldest person in the band and Frankie is the youngest, so they have unique perspectives, but they're both amazing musicians and they're very good to be around. Almost a year after we started playing together, it's feeling really good. They really brought a lot to the new record.”

Released in March on 4AD, Monomania was described by Cox as a “very avant-garde rock and roll record”. The album merged blues, punk, glam and pop in a spare and effortless way, winning hearts across the critical spectrum. “It definitely wasn't the biggest album we've done in terms of sales or popularity – I don't think we've gained huge strides towards developing a new audience with it,” Archuleta says, “but, with that said, it's an interesting record for me. I've known people, friends, who have had a sceptical or lukewarm appreciation of the band previously and this album is their favourite. It didn't grant us higher status with new fans, maybe, but, definitely with people close to me, it seemed to secure a certain kind of place in their heads. It's kind of validating.”

The Atlanta, Georgia natives took their bold leap forward with Halcyon Digest, a universally acclaimed album. With Monomania, the follow-up, Deerhunter no longer felt they had anything to prove. “I feel like we were trying to make an album just for us,” Archuleta explains. “We really weren't thinking about how it would be received or how we would get bigger or how we could make a commercial move, in fact we were really trying to strip down. After Halcyon Digest, I think it was really healthy for us to go back to certain kinds of basics. I think it helped to strengthen the foundations, making this album, instead of going further out of orbit.”

Overall, he and his bandmates feel blessed to have the careers that they do. In an “increasingly tough industry” where the availability of free music and the constant demand for our attention means a battle for survival in the realms of indie-rock, Deerhunter have gone the distance. They have had the now-rare opportunity to grow with the sound and see the calmer side of a rock'n'roll career. “It's a developing thing. It's not a static situation – our ages, the band – so it's not the same as it used to be. We're more mature now. There aren't the same jitters there. There are definitely moments that test your limitations, but at the end of the day we're really fortunate to be doing this, and fortunate to be in a position where we don't have to change. We can commit to our music with a certain purity of intent and trust that it will be well received.”