Album Review: Deerhunter - Monomania

The title track and first taste of Deerhunter's sixth album teased us with its guitars that shriek and creak, loose and dirty bass and frontman Bradford Cox's vocals sand-paper rough and enticing as ever in a melody that swings from classically catchy to hypnotically repetitive as he chants “mono, monomania” over and over. Unfortunately, the repetitiveness drags elsewhere on the album. Pensacola tries to be different, with its alt.country sheen and gritty guitar textures accompanying a tale of a town and a lost lover; nevertheless, your attention wanders. Similarly, the tragic story of THM sounds like a jam of an idea that didn't pass demo stage. The Missing, one of the sunnier tracks, recalls the 'ambient punk' of Halcyon Digest (2010), but lacks in the bright moments that were so plentiful on their previous album.

However, it's not all disappointing, even though the stronger songs need a little wearing in. Leather Jacket II is erratic and full of character, a canvas splashed with bits of everything. The guitar riff in Blue Agent ticks down like 'thinking time' music as Cox is softly sardonic, then scathing (“If you need a friend now/Better look someplace else”); and he's even more evocative on the jaded Sleepwalking, crying, “Can't you see your heart is hard now/Can't you see we've grown apart now” over a sonic rise and fall. Coming of age soliloquy Nitebike, merely acoustic guitar and reverbed hoots and whispers, compels you to listen. Punk (La Vie Anterieure) is a weak closer after highlights Monomania and Nitebike.

With the hits and misses balancing each other out, this isn't the album Monomania the single hinted at. But Cox and co were never ones to follow expectations. Monomania will gnaw away at patient listeners, but will take its sweet time.